|giv| Week 3: Faithless Complaints & the Faithful
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is Spencer and I am one of the pastors here so we are in the final two weeks of walking through the Book of Malachi and we're also in our final weeks of our give Series so every year if you're new here we do a give Series where we pause to remember uh really the gift of Jesus and what it means to be in relationship with him uh we get so caught up in this season and really the materialism that gets attached to Christmas and every year we take a moment to reset.
Remember who this is about and what he causes to is being people that do not worship gifts or don't worship money or don't worship anything other than Christ and esteem him as as wonderful and great and we do that through a give project which you'll hear more about um as we close out today but uh we're going to continue to walk through the Book of Malachi and we are in chapter 3: 13-8 so you can follow along there you can also follow along your blue Bible uh that's all around you the page should be on the screen 4 608.
If I can read correctly from a distance but you can follow along as we walk through the text together uh we are in the Christmas season and uh that means that there are a lot of things that are happening one of them is uh Hallmark movies so yeah some of you excited uh 90minut easy digestible plots that are effortless right Netflix has gotten in the game like there you know there a story for you you know the the woman who is in the city and has the high powerered career.
But she goes to the countryside for Christmas and meets the guy and all of a sudden she has to choose between a career and the Man in the countryside and every time she chooses the countryside and the wonderful life you know what I'm talking about there's these revolving plots that happen that we're all so very used to there's one that happens quite a bit as well and it's the story of a of a dad who really is all in on his career he's traveling all the time he's working really hard.
But he's not present at home and at Christmas time he believes that he can buy his children's affection by buying them all the Christmas gifts in the world like this plot shows up in you know 90-minute movies it shows up all over the place it happens in real life as well and everyone who understands that story universally responds the same way Dad he doesn't want the gifts he wants you he he doesn't want the Christmas that you can provide he wants you he wants to go out back and throw the ball he wants to have time with you.
If you would just refocus and reenter your life in in a way that would see that your children are valuable and the little time that you have with them like we know that story and all of us are on the same page and saying dude slow down the gifts don't matter it's what you it's you are what matters and yet we don't apply that same logic to God God the Father we just don't we don't see that actually having a relationship with.
God the father and being with him is actually good that's where goodness is found it's not in the gifts that he can provide it's not in the life that he can provide it's not in the things that we want in this world it's actually found in him and we don't apply that same logic we so deeply understand when we're watching a movie to who our God is and we get so wrapped up especially in a season like this in what God can do.
For for us and defining that as goodness now we're not alone the Jewish people as we're going to see today we're also in the same boat confusing what is the goodness of God how is that displayed and really believing that that's bound up in the things that he can do for his people so we're going to see that we're going to see how that applies to us as we walk through another dispute that God has with his people in the Book of Malachi let we pray and we'll walk through this together heavenly.
Father I I pray pray that you would help us be present this morning that we might remember who you are that we might even some of us discover who you are that we might see you as wonderful and good and worthy of our worship not because of what you can do for us but because who you are and God I pray that you'd help us be present this morning to hear that and that we would not just be hearers of the word.
But we would be doers of the word we walk this out in faith and in Repentance and in worship and delighting in who you are in Jesus name amen all right so starting off in verse 13 your words have been hard against me says the Lord but you say how have we spoken against you you have said it is vain to serve God what is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts.
Now we call the Arrogant blessed evildoers not only Prosper but they put God to the test and they escape so if you've been walking with us in the Book of Malachi one of the things that you have seen over and over again in these disputes because each one of these sections of Malachi is a dispute that God has with his people and you see this God says this is what you've done here's the accusation here's what you've said here's what you've done people are like no not us how have we done this and that's what's Happening Here your words have been hard against me and they say.
Well how how have we spoken against you we wouldn't know never he said no You' have spoken hardly another version will say harshly another version uh will say arrogantly it's all capturing the same idea you have spoken arrogantly harshly hard words against the Lord and in verse 14 we see this harshness and really what's happening in this charge says what prophet is there in keeping his charge his charge the NIV I'm going to put the NIV which is another version of this up there.
Because I want us to see what's happening here it says you have said it is feudal to serve God what do we gain by carrying out his requirements so this is a little bit different than what we've read before where they're complaining or lamenting before God they're talking amongst themselves this we his language what God is describing is conversations that are happening amongst the people of God so what's happening is the people are complaining against the Lord together which is what happens you know people who are disgruntled seem to find each other.
If you've ever worked a job if you've ever been in an office or worked in a shop or wherever like the most disgruntled people just find each other and they complain about their boss they complain about their work they complain about fill in the blank and that's what's happened with the people of God is they they've some people have been finding each other to complain together against God so what are they complaining about what the content of their beef with God it starts in.
Verse 14 it says you have said it is vain to serve God what is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts so they're saying what is the point in worshiping God what profit is there what gain is there in worshiping God it's not going well for us what's the point of worshiping God this language of mourning is is is the type of lament worship they would bring before God what's the point in worshiping.
God it's not it's not giving us any gain that we can really see that we can really feel that we can really grasp and we saw a little bit of this earlier when the uh earlier with the dispute with the people of God when they were bringing their sacrifices before the Lord they were bringing uh bad sacrifices disobeying the law bringing blind animals and all types of animals that should not have been sacrificed going through the motions of worship and now they're just complaining about going through the motions of worship what is the point what is the profit what is the gain in worshiping.
God and it becomes a really self-centered self-interested approach to the Lord that God has not done me any good so what's the point in even serving him what's the point even going to the temple and offering worships what's the what's the point of even going to the synagogue and hearing the rabbi preach like what is the point what is the prophet and they continue this complaint in verse 15 it says and now we call the Arrogant blessed evildoers not only Prosper.
But they put God to the test and they escape so this is similar to what we've read earlier in Malachi they are mad that those who are not of the people of God that don't worship God are prospering so the Persians still roll over them at this point in history and they're mad about that when they come back to the promised land the their sworn enemies are taking have taken over parts of the promised land and they're mad about that and those people that don't worship.
God they seem to be doing well and we aren't are you going to show up for us oh God cuz we're not prospering and they are and they're not being punished and they're comparing themselves to the people that are around them which as I told my daughter last night is a miserable existence it's a miserable existence to compare yourselves to others in childhood it's miserable but it's also Miserable as as an adult consistently compare yourself to others one of the things that we're having to deal with with our oldest she's in the.
Third grade and and this has started to happen but she's got friends in her class that have phones and that's going to continue to happen and she's already kind of wondered wait a second why don't I have a phone and those conversations are going to continue to ramp up and they're going to be more and more like hey why don't I have a phone my friends have a phone why don't I have a phone and the comparisons are going to continue in that direction and one of the things is going to be difficult.
For her that we're going to have to have conversations with over and over again is to say listen I'm not their parents I'm yours you belong to me and we have made a decision that it's going to be a while before you get a phone especially a smartphone because we have basically a decade long case study on what that does to young girls so no we're you're not going to have a smartphone for a very long time and what she's going to inevitably what going to happen in her soul.
Because she's a human is is that's not good you're you're denying goodness and and what she doesn't see is no we aren't we're actually giving you goodness by not giving you this device that could warp you no but we do this it's so innate to who we are to compare ourselves to others to say oh no like I what are you holding back from me oh Lord that the others have that is good now that complaint needs some context for when that's being said in history I mean that that matters.
For any statement that's made in history I can make the statement right now that Germany is dominating influence in Europe I mean they are a dominating influence in Europe and they are because they're the most powerful economy in the EU if I said that in 1940 that's different that's a whole different ball game so context based on generational difference differences and time matters so when is this statement when is this complaint that they are saying being said and why does that matter.
So the complaint they're making against God here is a few Generations after the book of Ezra and the book of Nehemiah Malachi is one of the is the final book of the Old Testament and it's believed that happens just a few Generations right after the events of Ezra and Nehemiah and if you read the books of Ezra and Nehemiah what you will see when the people return from exile to the promised land is that there's this renewed fervor in love for.
God there's this renewed worship for God as they're rebuilding the temple and as they're rebuilding the walls and as they're uh reading the the law and rediscovering the Covenant there's this renewed fervor for God and with that renewed fervor for God is this expectation that things are going to get better and then it kind of doesn't by their standards they don't still Ru over their land things aren't seeming to be all that much better and we we we saw even last week uh that they aren't one of the things that chat B us through last week and the last uh dispute that.
God has with this people is that they're not actually giving to uh giving their tithes to the lord they're holding back from the Lord and part of that when you can of look into the context is that they probably don't have as much it's easy to to to give a tenth when you are prosperous a little bit harder when you are not so things aren't going well as they expected and the their enemies are ruling over parts of their land they just things aren't going like they want it to be and they're saying.
Well what's the profit of following God what's the point in worshiping God because it's just not getting better now I think that context is important for us and the Western American Church because I believe that we have similar complaints because what happens with us is that many of us will place our faith in Jesus get baptized or maybe we'll go through a season of rediscovery of God and loving his word and passionate maybe you get married you're like I want to actually take Faith seriously as a family or you start to have a kid you start to go I want to take.
God ser seriously we have these Mountaintop experiences where we're starting to have a fervor and a love for God and what happens is is that we believe the false narrative that if I'm just following God and I'm doing what I'm supposed to then things are just going to get better and then life hits you in the face repeatedly over and over again death loss betrayal debt joblessness the works and what happens when you get hit over and over again as you start to question is.
God good it is he because I'm just I'm getting destroyed left and right and I I is he good now the reason I think that question seeps in very easily I think there's there's a few different threads for that I think part of that is is that the American Prosperity Gospel is so rampant in Western American Church and we like to think of that as just the you know the C dollars of the world who are buying Jets those are the worst versions of it.
But it's way more than that it's this consistent message that shows up of be you got you follow God you'll be healthy you'll be be good you'll be fine your life will be good profit gain it's all over Instagram It's All Over YouTube it's all over just it's it it fuses its way to where the goodness of God ultimately is what he can do for you if he plac your faith in Jesus watch him work won't won't he won't he work I mean just over and over and over and over again it seeps its way in all different places I think that's part of the problem I think I think also part of the problem.
Is is that we just have this understanding that goodness is found in the things goodness is found in the substance material substance there's this material idea of just goodness is these things and therefore if God is good he must display his goodness with these things if he just gives me these things then he ultimately is good I think also we just very basically we lack a very biblical Theology of suffering the the the New Testament you cannot read the New Testament without understanding that there is a baseline theolog theological like you you are going to suffer and ultimately that is.
For your good that if you are called in Christ as a Christian you will suffer and it's actually seen as something that is good for us I mean James 1 says count it all joy count it all joy my brothers when you meet Trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing now it says can Joy my brothers when you meet trials.
When really important word meaning you are going to meet trials you are going to suffer and he's trying to help them count it as a joy because ultimately that suffering is going to produce steadfastness and as Roman says it'll have its full effect it be like I mean just it's just just I think we lack this and we're surrounded by so many bad ideas and bad philosophies of the day bad theology bad preaching dumb Instagram dumb Tik Tok I mean just we're surrounded by.
So many ridiculous detached from the Bible ideas and I love what Eugene Peterson once said he said all the water and all the oceans cannot sink a ship unless it gets inside that all the water and all the oceans cannot sink a ship unless it gets inside so yes we are certainly surrounded by so many bad ideas so many bad philosophies so many bad theology so many bad streams but the reality is is that we're we still have the ability to believe what is true we have his word we have the Holy Spirit that don't have to get inside the boat that don't have to get in we are responsible ultimately.
For discernment and filtering out all of that so we might actually believe what is true and some of that means you've got to realize that you might have some metaphorical people that are around that are complaining and giving you bad ideas Bad Company as First Corinthians says ruins good morals so I don't know what that is for you if that's seeping into your soul you might need to Source where that is and who that's coming from maybe it's people that you follow maybe it's things that you have heard maybe it's fill in the blank.
But there's a group of people in the promised land that are just complaining and they're complaining against God because they believe what is not true the goodness is found in what God can do for us in this life mostly materially but that's not the only people in the Promised Land when you get to verse 16 you see that then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another so there still are people who fear the lord who love him who realize that goodness is found in him that Delight in him.
For who he is and not for what he can do in prospering this life now there's still people that love God and that worship him and that fear Him and they're speaking together and this is what God says and some of this is in the time of Malachi and some of this is we're going to see is forward looking the Lord paid attention and heard them and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name they shall be mine says the.
Lord of hosts in the day when I make make up my treasure possession I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked between one who serves God and one who does not serve him so we get this picture of people who in the midst of their suffering are fearing God and I want to take a look at some of that forward-looking language that is.
For the people of God who persevere in faith so that first part it says the Lord paid attention and heard them and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name those who fear the lord are his they belong to him so much so that their name is written in a book of remembrance which is something that we see from the Old Testament into the new right we're walking through the book of Exodus in the last year we saw that Moses.
When he's pleading on behalf of the people he says in Exodus 32 but now if you will will forgive their sin but if not please blot me out of your book that you have written there's this idea of that those who remain faithful they're written and recorded in some book of remembrance The Book of Revelation completes this theme at the end of the story in Revelation uh chapter 3 it says the one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments and I will never blot his name out of the book of life I will confess his name before my.
Father and before his angels Revelation says and if anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life he was thrown into the Lake of Fire there's this idea throughout the Scriptures that that those who are faithful those who trust God those who persevere they're written in a a book of remembrance a book of life there's a recording that is taken of them now for their time that makes a lot more visual sense for them because they were very used to it at the time Kings kept a record.
So Kings at the time both Jewish and non-jewish Kings they kept a record of who did what in the Kingdom that was good who did what in the Kingdom that was bad they kept a record of all of this so it's very picturesque for them that the God of the universe the king over all things keeps a record and keeps an account of who is faithful so he says God I I will remember I have a book of remembrance and you'll be written in.
And then I want to to see what he has to say about those in the book of remembrance verse 17 they shall be mine says the Lord of hosts in the day when I make up my treasured possession and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked between one who serves God and one who does not serve him so God says couple of things he says those who fear me those who are in this book of remembrance they are my treasured possession dude where his treasured possession that.
God holds his people dear to him he Treasures them he keeps them safe like if I if this week in our office is next door if Chad philli started a fire because I don't even know what he's doing back there sometimes if he started a fire and the building was going to burn down and I had to get some stuff out of my office I'd choose the most treasured possessions and it it would be very quick CU on my bookshelf there's a pocket Bible it's an old kjb pocket Bible it was my grandparents pocket Bible and that's a treasure possession I'd grab that and above that is I have a I have a signed copy.
Of one of wle Berry's limited edition poetry books which for very limited amount of people that's a big deal but it's it's one of the best authors of the last century he I got him to sign it a book fair I'd grab that I might even grab there's at the end of the bookshelf there's a picture it's of chett but it's of Chad looking at himself so like one day um one day I was at his office and he had this uh he was looking at his computer.
But his computer has two screens and one of them just had a screen saver which was a his profile picture on our website and he's looking at it so I snapped the picture because it looks like he's fawning over himself and I sent it to him it was a big kind of inside joke and then all of a sudden he like before he went on sabatical like printed it off and put it in a frame just you know cuz we listen we make jokes about each other all the time from the pulpit cuz we're fun we like to have fun.
But we are close we're good friends and he knew he's going to be gone for eight week so he put that picture up there for me to remember him and it's just like it's a good inside joke it stays up there so I probably wouldn't keep that I if I'm grabbing things maybe if I have the time but definitely the other two objects I'm grabbing those and the reason why I'm grabbing those objects it's because they're dear to me they're treasured and I want to keep them safe.
God he says I'm you're you're mine you're my treasured possession just think about that if you're in Christ God Treasures you he Treasures you and he will ultimately keep you near to him I love that language which that we a treasure possession and he goes on and he says and I will spare them like a man spares his son who serves him and this is the language of a father who loves his son father who loves his son and I mean not just giving trying to buy his affection at Christmas.
But just absolutely loves his boy and if you're a parent you get this you understand what it means to love your children and that you want to spare them suffering you want to spare them like that that's like I right now we're so I I read a book called coddling of the American mind years ago and I'm very convinced by the arguments in it not they're not Christians but very convinced the arguments in it one of the things they're critiquing is helicopter parenting.
So we're trying to grow in our family to not be the helicopter parents so my oldest is in the third grade and we're trying to allow her to have more free play in our neighborhood where we can't see her but that's very hard because I've seen a lot of dat line and it's just hard where for Christmas don't don't tell her but we're getting her a a a Garmin smart watch that allows her to message us send out a SOS signal.
If she's in trouble but has GPS tracking so I feel a little more comfortable less helicopter sending her out in the neighborhood to play with kids where I can't see her because it's good for her ultimately to have this free play that is going to be good for her to make her a better adult now the reason why that's hard for me and my wife is because we don't want her to get hurt we want to spare her that like we don't want our children to be hurt we want our children to be.
Okay and that's something that's so distinct to parents we love our children and God says I I'm going spare them like a man spares his son who serves him like I I'm going to like like like a God who loves his child that doesn't want his child to suffer that's how I see there people who fear me who love me and in the days ahead you will be my you're my treasured possession and I will spare you and when that happens everyone will.
See the distinction between those who trust in Christ and fear Him and the wicked who reject him and ultimately complain about him because they've misunderstood the goodness of God now that question lingers of okay well when that's prophesying this when when is that going to happen in this side of the Cross we know exactly when that was going to happen so I passages like Romans 8 which makes M Malachi 3:17 come to life Romans 8 says he who did not spare his son.
But gave him up for us all how will he not also with him gracious ly give us all things and the good news of the Gospel is that God loves his people so much that he did not spare his only begotten son that he had his son crushed on a cross to absorb the wrath for our sin that we deserve so that we might be spared so that we might become his treasure possession and so the Judgment might might not fall upon us.
But it might fall upon Christ so Malachi is pointing forward to that day when Jesus is not spared but those who trust in him are and as Romans says As Romans says how will he not graciously give us all things that if we're spared this judgment and more than that we're graciously given all things what are the all things and it's not Material in this life it's Christ in life with him so as Malachi and the complaint is what is the profit of keeping his charge what's the profit what's the gain what do I get you get everything you get everything that ultimately matters you gain him in life with him forever you get the.
Fruit of his righteousness credited to our account you get to behold his face and etern you gain everything that ultimately matters so what is it worth what's the profits worth everything as Paul so succinctly puts in Philippians 3 when he argues indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and for him the loss was reputation the loss was he suffered greatly physically he suffered in hunger he suffered in he suffered shipwrecks he suffered everything as I count everything as a loss.
Because the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish so all the things that you might cling to in this world and say that's good he says no it's garbage it's rubbish no where am I in order that I might gain Christ and be found him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but that which comes through faith in Christ the righteousness from.
God that depends on faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings becoming like him in death and the Very things in this life that we're so tempted to believe that are ultimately good it's nothing it's fleeting it doesn't last it's not worth putting your hope in it the difference between those that do not know God and those who do is not bound up in the things that they have in this life it's bound up in who they ultimately worship and we have Christ and he's worth everything he's worth all the loss that you might suffer in this world he's worthy of it and he's better as.
We say every week he's better than everything else so that means that we we have to stop measuring the goodness of God and the things that we can get here and now and then all the different ways that we struggle with God because we are frustrated because of what he does not give us it means that we have to submit that in Repentance before the Lord and also believe that he is good regardless of anything that's added in this life now as we do give we get to do that every year as a reminder.
Because every year around this time we talk about this we talk about how there are things that Vive for our attention and our affection there's so many things that you can buy now on Amazon there's so many things you can level up to in life the next house the next truck the next whatever it is that you desire and when we don't get it we get frustrated we get discontent and maybe it's not even maybe it's not even a big truck maybe it's just the simple things like I don't want to be in pain anymore more I want relationally things to go.
Well for me I want my marriage to go well for me I want friendships to go well for me I want my job to go well for me there's so many things that we put value in in this life and when those are taken from us is when we start to shake our Fist and at least at give every year we get to address one of the big ones which is materialism it is money it is the things that we want to worship and lay our lives down.
For so we close out we're going to worship and then Isaac is going to come up here he's explain the next phase of our give project we're excited about and we're going to get an opportunity to actually in the coming weeks display that at least we don't love the things of this world so much so that we might give up a chunk of change a bit of our budget maybe bit of our regular giving so that we might submit our finances to the.
Lord and not love the things of this world that we so if we're honest deeply love but even more than that the hope would be is that we would not be like those who complained amongst the people of God who questioned God's goodness because he did not deliver in the ways that they wanted him to but we just be like the boy who gets his dad and just says I want him I don't want the things you can give me I just want want you and we'd be a people that whatever it is in this life that that we put value in we just put it away and say no I got you.
And if I got you I'm good let me pray heavenly father I pray that you'd help us submit to what is difficult teaching you help me submit to what is difficult teaching from your word there's so many things my heart strives to love above you but you're more beautiful you're more wonderful you're more satisfying and I pray that we believe that I pray that we' live like that's true that if there's anyone here that hasn't actually fully done that for the.
First time ever they haven't actually believed that you're ultimately better they would actually believe that they would have faith that you would give them Faith to believe that you are better the goodness is found in you and for the rest of us who are sinners trying to rid our elves of seeking the pleasures of this life may you help us in Repentance and in worship submit these things to you that we might see you as good in Jesus name amen.
|giv| Week 3 Project
Exodus 35-40
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Well good morning my name is Chet I'm one of the pastors here grab your Bibles and go to Exodus chapter 35. we are working our way through the book of Exodus we have six chapters left and we are going to go through all of them today so I hope uh we did send you an email to pack your lunch right um now here's what's happening in the book of Exodus we have walked through and we've made it to the place where in Exodus chapters 25 through 31 Moses was on the mountain.
God said you're going to build a tabernacle and here's how you're going to do it and so chapter 25 26 27 28 29 30 and 31 is God explaining to Moses in detail how to build the Tabernacle what they're going to do to accomplish this and then chapters 35 36 37 38 and 39 is them building in detail the Tabernacle so in chapters 25-31 God says this is what I want you to build and in chapters 35-39 they build it and it's this picture of this culmination of God's plan coming together from start to finish in the book of Exodus where ultimately what he's rescued them out of slavery.
For is going to be accomplished and so it's a little bit like if we went and watched a fireworks show they're shooting off fireworks the whole time but then at the end they shoot off about as many as they've already shot off it's all coming together to kind of finish it off that's kind of where we are is that we're in the the crescendo of the book of Exodus and so we're going to take all six of these chapters together so let's pray.
And then we will study through this together this morning as we try to take in the full picture of the book of Exodus God we're thankful for your word we're thankful that we get to gather and study it together we ask Lord that you would help us to sit under the weight of the authority of your word that we would believe you more than we believe culture that we would believe you and trust in you more than we believe and trust in ourselves that.
Lord where we need to repent we would repent where we need to Rejoice we would Rejoice we ask the Lord that your spirit would teach us work through your word this morning and help us to see the glory of Christ reflected in the book of Exodus in Jesus name amen so we're going to be in Exodus chapter 35 and that's why I'd like to begin by reading something from Exodus chapter 25 it'll be on the screen Exodus 25 because this is where.
God on the mountain begins to tell Moses this is what you're going to do this is verses 8 and 9 it says and let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the Tabernacle and of all its furniture so you shall make it okay the Tabernacle is a movable tent it's a big tent that they're going to use particularly for worship and it's this place where God is going to dwell in a particular specific way among them he's not entombed in it he's not imprisoned in it.
But he's choosing to place his glory there in a specific particular way to be a blessing and a sign for the people of Israel but the word Tabernacle literally just means Dwelling Place so he says I'm going to show you a pattern that you might make a dwelling place for me that I might dwell among you and that's his plan that he would rescue them out of slavery and not just say okay you're free best of luck but that he rescues them out of slavery and says.
Now I'm going to dwell among you you're going to be my people I'm going to be your God we're going to Delight in one another there's going to be Joy here and so that's that's what he's doing is that he takes them out of slavery that he might dwell among them and so here's what happens in chapters 25-31 God says this is what it's going to look like and then in chapters 35-39 they do it it should be chapter 25 through 31.
God says this is what it's going to look like and then chapters 32 is when they begin to accomplish it but that's not what happens in chapter 32. Moses comes down the mountain the dust isn't even out of the grooves of the stone that all of this is carved in and they have rebelled against God and broken the Covenant they immediately destroyed it I remember when my wife and I had first got married we were renting a house in Clinton South Carolina and the there was a guy who had come over to fix something and he knew the lady we were running from and he had helped fix something he's an older gentleman and he.
While he was there he got to talking to me and he whittled and he handed me a little whittled figure and I cannot remember if it was like a dog or a horse or a boat I don't remember but he handed it to me and I was looking I was like that's neat and he said it's made out of teak wood antique wood is one of the strongest Woods that's why he was talking to me as soon as he said that I just oh strong wood I just kind of did this and I snapped it in half.
And so I just quickly put it back together and I looked at him and he had not noticed and so for about two minutes while I held it like I was still looking at it but I'm really just you know holding it together formulating a plan he told me that Teakwood is very strong it's kind of expensive hard to get hard to carve they make ships out of it like he was going on and on about how great Teakwood was and I was like it's not as strong as you think.
So when he got done I just handed it back to him and said I broke it and he just went hmm I think he said something about it broke along the grain because I tried to explain what you said it was strong I was just but I wasn't trying to put too you know I didn't try to break it and then he just left and we didn't talk anymore after that that's somewhat what chapter 32 feels like is that God has designed this beautiful Covenant he's made this plan he's going to dwell among them and he says this is what it's going to.
Look like and they're like great we broke it that's immediately what they do it falls apart and so we hit this moment in chapters 32 33 34 where we're going what's going to happen and God in his grace and in his goodness Works to redeem and overcome their sin and he renews the Covenant which he does not have to do but he does and we get to see Moses in this intercessory role and so in 35 we pick back up with a renewed Covenant and they're going to build the Tabernacle.
So go to 35. Moses assembled all the congregation of the people of Israel and said to them these are the things that the Lord has commanded you to do six days work shall be done but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of solemn rest holy to the Lord whoever does any work on it shall be put to death you shall Kindle no fire in all your Dwelling Places on the Sabbath day Okay so Moses about to tell them we're going to build the Tabernacle he's about to give them a whole lot of work to do.
But all the time in the book of Exodus whenever that's happening is that there's this reminder you're not slaves anymore and one of the primary ways that we're going to worship and enjoy the Lord is in rest so we've got a lot of work to do but we're going to work for six days and we're going to rest for one it's actually interesting in the book of Exodus one of the words that's described for their slavery is the same word that's described.
For their worship so that they used to slave and serve and worship Pharaoh and now though slave and serve in Worship the Lord but it's going to look different their their value doesn't come from their labor anymore it comes from him and so this service to Pharaoh becomes service to the Lord but there's always this reminder of a Sabbath so verse 4. Moses said to all the congregation of the people of Israel this is the thing that the Lord has commanded and that was in 25 through 31.
Take from among you a contribution to the Lord whoever is of A Generous Heart let him bring the Lord's contribution gold and silver and bronze blue and purple and Scarlet Yarns and fine twined linen goat's hair and tanned Ram skins and goat skins acacia wood oil for the light spices for the anointing oil and for The Fragrant incense and Onyx stones and stones for setting for the ephid and for the breast piece so everyone whose heart stirs them they're going to take a collection.
For this purpose let every skillful Craftsman among you come and make all that the Lord has commanded the Tabernacle its tint and its covering its Hooks and its frames its bars its pillars and its bases the ark with its poles The Mercy Seat and the veil of the screen the table with its poles and all its utensils and the bread of the presence the lamp stand also for the light with its utensils and its lamps and the oil for the lie and the altar of incense with its poles and the anointing oil and The Fragrant incense and the screen.
For the door at the door of the Tabernacle the altar of burnt offering with its grading of bronze its poles and all its utensils the Basin and it stands the hangings of the Court its pillars and its bases and the screen of the Gate of the Court the pegs of the Tabernacle and the pegs of the court and their courts the finely worked garments for ministering in the Holy place the holy garments for Heir and the priests and the garments of his sons.
For their service as priests that's why it's multiple chapters because he tells them specifically how to make all of that how they're going to build it what it's going to look like how it's going to be designed how wide how he doesn't just say make a table he says make this table and so that's why it works through slowly to build all of this for the Tabernacle and now they're taking a collection for it verse 20. then all the congregation of the people of Israel departed from the presence of Moses and they came everyone whose heart stirred him and everyone whose Spirit moved him and brought the Lord's contribution to be used.
For the tent of meeting and for all its service and for the holy garments so they came both men and women all who were of a willing heart brought brooches and earrings and Signet rings and armlets all sorts of gold objects every man dedicating an offering of gold to the Lord and every one of them who possessed blue or purple or Scarlet yarn Yarns are fine the linen or goat's hair or tanned Ram skins or goat skins brought them everyone who could make a contribution of silver or bronze brought it as the Lord's contribution and everyone who possessed Acacia would of any use in the work brought in and every skillful woman spun with her.
Hands and they all brought what they had spun in blue and purple and Scarlet Yarns and fine twine linen all the women whose heart stirred them to use their skill spun the goat's hair and the leaders brought Onyx stones and stones to be set for the aphid and for the breast piece and spices and oil for the light and for the anointing oil and for The Fragrant incense all the men and women the people of Israel whose heart moved them to bring anything.
For the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a free will offering to the Lord so they respond and we're told in later in the next few chapters that the everybody who's working on stuff has to come to Moses and say tell them to stop we have enough tell them to stop giving we have enough and it's all those whose heart stirred them whose spirits of them he didn't say we need x amount of pounds per woman and x amount of pounds per man and this much gold per tribe it doesn't do any of that he just says.
If your heart moves you give and they respond in this generous way one of the blessings that our Church has gotten to participate in over the years is at the end of the year we have a give series where we intentionally pick something where we're going to try to bless and be generous and help fund a missionary or give some money to a Church plant or work in some sort of service area in our city and it's just so much joy.
When we all collectively as the spirit moves in our heart stirs give and the times that we get to to acknowledge that we were able to raise more than we needed to accomplish this thing and that's what they're getting to do here where they just respond in joy and delight and generosity to who God is then it's going to talk about bezalel and a holy AB that's the bulk of our reading so if you were thinking we were about to read all the stuff we're not just to help you out a little bit.
But it talks about bezel and holy ABS two of the ones that the Lord specifically sat apart for the work it tells us that they ended up bringing one ton of gold four tons of silver and two and a half tons of bronze so they have plenty and this thing is going to be decked out in Beauty and glory for God's Tabernacle in chapter 36 they make the frame and the tint of the Tabernacle in chapter 37 they make the Ark of the Covenant the table the lamp stand and the altar of incense and one of the things that happens in this is that much of what is built is designed to represent something to.
Display that God's going to dwell among his people that he's going to share meal with them that he's going to eat with them to display that he's their provision to display they have a a lamp a lantern that that won't ever go out and it's to burn continually and it's it's to display that God is their light and their life continually and this is what he does and there's all these pictures that are woven into this in the Tabernacle what's around the ark and the most holy place a lot of it has pictures that are meant to bring to mind the garden.
So there's blossoms there's blooming there's pomegranates there's cherubim and it's meant to be that God's original design in the Garden of Eden was that he would dwell among his people and y'all I just learned this this week the word Eden is just the Hebrew word for Delight or pleasure I didn't know that I thought Eden was a name The Garden of delight that is what he originally placed them in the garden of pleasure that that's God's original intended design was that we would Delight in him that he would Delight with us that there would be pleasantness with him.
And then when they build the Tabernacle that's some of what his image what's pictured here is that he's restoring that but also they're a cherubim there and the cherubim were placed at the Garden to keep them from entering and so there's still this picture of not only is he seeking to restore some of Eden but he's also picturing again that there still is some separation between them and him and that's why there's so much that goes into sacrificial system in the Tabernacle where they have to atone.
For sin to approach God in chapter 38 they make the Altar for the burnt offering the bronze Basin the court that's its hooks pillars bases and hangings but there's this one verse in chapter 38 that I want to draw your attention to because it just gets buried in here it's one verse but I want y'all to see this and I think it's beautiful chapter 38 verse 8 we'll have it on the screen but if you've got your Bible in front of you it's on page 45 of the blue one I don't know what page it's on.
If you brought your own Bible but I'm glad you brought your own Bible chapter 38 verse 8. he made the Basin of bronze and its stand of bronze from the mirrors of the ministering women who ministered in the entrance of the tent of meeting now you might be inclined to say who because that's the first and only time that they're mentioned this isn't the tent of meeting that's going to be a part of the Tabernacle when it's finished it's the tint of meeting that Moses used to set up outside of the camp where Joshua would stay in it Moses would meet with the.
Lord and that was also the place where people who wanted to seek wisdom from the Lord or from Moses would go and so apparently there were some women who served there that's what ministered means they served and when it came time to build the Tabernacle those women had bronze mirrors which means a solid sheet of polished bronze uses a mirror because they wouldn't have had glass and mirrors the way we have glass and mirrors this is one of the only ways you would have a mirror you could.
Look into some water or you could have some kind of a polished metal and so these ladies had polished bronze mirrors and I love this verse because I think it's such a beautiful picture of when you actually begin to see who the Lord is like they got to minister near the tent of meeting they got this glimpse of the glory of the Lord and he's going to come dwell among them and they turned their bronze mirrors in so that they might make the bronze Basin I think it's intentionally told us here.
So that we might hear the sacrifice that is involved in this I don't think mirrors were easy to come by and what do you use a mirror for looking at yourself and it's just a beautiful picture of when we get a glimpse of him we want more of him and less of us when we get to see what he's like and who he is and and the idea that he would come there they just turn this in there like I don't I don't want to.
Look at myself I don't want this to be about myself I want it to be about him and isn't that a beautiful picture of the Gospel for us that when you're trying to follow Jesus and so much you're thinking here's what I'm good at here's what I'm bad at here's why I'm succeeding here's why I'm failing y'all turn the mirror in quit looking at yourself it's not about you it's about Jesus when we say Jesus is better than everything else it's about what he's done what he's accomplished who he is it's about his glory and not yours.
When we show up in glory to Worship the Lord we will have our eyes transfixed on him there won't be a big line where they say welcome to Heaven here's your mirror now go sing stare at your face and sing about your it's not how it's going to work and I love this picture a sermon I could get amped up but I can't it's just one verse we gotta move on but it's a good verse just remember that we get to turn in our mirrors we get to.
See it set our eyes on him and some of you are spending right now a lot of time in Pride or despair because you're looking in a mirror I just want you to know the Gospel is way better than that chapter 39 they make the Priestly garments and in chapter 39 they repeat this phrase over and over again as the Lord commanded or as the Lord had commanded and it's this picture repeated over and over again that they they did this just the way the.
Lord told them so that phrase as the Lord of commanded is in verse 1 verse 5 verse 7 verse 21 verse 26 verse 29 verse 31 verse 32 verse 42 and verse 43 as the Lord had commanded and there's this beautiful picture of obedience and that they're doing exactly what the Lord called them to do now much of chapters 35 to 39 is repeated almost verbatim from chapters 25. 31. I picked one example we're going to look at the making of the table.
So this is chapter 25 verse 23 you shall make a table of acacia wood two cubits shall be its length a cubit its breath and a cubit and a half its height chapter 37 he also made the table of acacia wood two cubits was its length a cubit its breath and a cubit and a half its height chapter 25 you shall overlay it with pure gold and make a molding of gold around it chapter 37 and he overlaid it with pure gold and made a molding of gold around it chapter 25 you shall make a rim around it a hand breath-wide and a molding of gold around the rim chapter 37 and he made a.
Rim around it a hand breath wide and a molding of gold around the rim chapter 25 and you shall make for it four rings of gold and fasten the Rings to the Four Corners at its four legs chapter 37 he cast for four rings of gold and fastened the Rings to the Four Corners at its four legs 25 close to the frames the ring shall lie as holders for the poles to carry the table 37 close to the frame were the Rings he's going a little off script here asshoulders.
For the polls to carry the table it's like when you're cheating off your friend for their homework but you just mess some of them up you make it look like you did it okay chapter 25 you shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold and the table shall be carried with these chapter 37 he made the polls of acacia wood to carry the table and for a second you're like oh no and overlaid them with gold it just flips it he builds some suspense this is much of how these chapters read and one of the things that happens.
While you're reading through them at least for me is my mind goes kind of numb and I'm just like okay okay okay yep okay okay hand breath got it polls got it gold and if you've already read through like if you sat down to read through the book of Exodus and you read through chapters 25 through 31 unfortunately you're a little excited that it doesn't immediately go into 35 you're glad they go off the rails and something gets to happen it doesn't immediately go into 35 where it just repeats the same stuff and you're reading it.
Now when you're back in 35 you're going okay okay and there's a little bit of you that's like why didn't they just say they did it the way that he said to do it that's like a sentence and I would have believed him why does it go through the process of repeating all of this what I'm about to offer is some speculation because it doesn't tell us but I have some I've thought about it I have some guesses I'll share with you I think one of the reasons is intentional thoroughness and a desire to show the strict adherence to God's instruction and their obedience beautiful walkthrough of obedience of taking God's word seriously honestly it.
Would be delightful for us if all of us could live our lives with the same amount of rigor and seriousness to the word of God that chapters 35-39 take in the book of Exodus that we knew what he had instructed and we followed it your life would be better if you did that and so there's this display of thoroughness but there's also and and obedience but there's also this display of God working out things according to the purpose of his will that.
God tells Moses on the mountain this is what you're going to do and then it happens and it happens after everything falls apart where God works to redeem and to forgive and to help accomplish what he's set out to accomplish and it's a beautiful picture that When God says this is what I'm going to do he does it and so it's this picture of human obedience and God's will together so I think there's obedience I think there's thoroughness I think there's the Fulfillment of God's will that he accomplishes what he set out.
But I also think there's something that we miss y'all there's delight and excitement in these chapters I don't know when you've had the opportunity to prepare for the arrival of a loved one I don't know if you've ever gotten to prepare a house where you'll move in with a spouse you're not married yet but you're going to be I don't know if you've had the opportunity to to labor away at that I don't know if you've had the opportunity to to prepare a room where a baby's going to dwell I don't know.
If you've ever had the chance all your grandkids are coming home or a friend you haven't seen in a long time is going to come to visit and you have a week to prepare and you're thinking about what you're going to cook you're getting the place ready you're washing the sheets you're getting the room ready you're setting it up you stand in you think okay like I don't know if you've had these opportunities but that's what chapters 35-39 are when we get done building this he's going to dwell here our.
God is going to dwell Among Us the one who rescued us out of Egypt is going to come be here you know there's Delight this these were slaves who slaved away with endless toil and the only thing held out in front of them was death I bet there are days when they still wake up and have to remind themselves oh I'm not a slave anymore I bet some of them are just now getting to where they walk a little taller getting over some of the the beatings that they had taken loosening up a little bit learning how to to be a little Freer.
When they wake up and they labor towards this it's in Delight of the God of the universe who has specifically rescued and chosen them to come dwell among them they're preparing diligently for something wonderful and if you ever talk to a person who took the time to build a table for the house they're going to move into to make a recipe for their grandchildren that are going to come visit to paint a room and prepare it for a baby if you ask them about it I'm willing to bet that they will joyfully go into about as much detail this chapters 35-39.
Well you know what I went and I went and I was looking at two different pieces of wood and I decided to go with Oak now your Pond's good but and I've got laughter I mean they're going to go into it it's just a Sprinkle of cinnamon now don't you don't want to do too much cinnamon but you're going to want to just a pinch like just you know maybe just two fingers if you do too but you got to get it it's like oh yeah I bet it was good that's what's happening here.
Because there's delight and joy and in preparing for the Lord to come this is a refrain it's a crescendo it's all coming together and it's work to prepare so move to the end of chapter 39. verse 42 and 43. according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses so the people of Israel had done all the work and Moses saw all the work and behold they had done it as the Lord commanded so had they done it so Moses blessed them there's a little Echo at the end of creation here where.
God views all that he made and he sees that it's good and then He blesses the man and woman to be fruitful and multiplying to have dominion over the Earth like there's a little a little echo of it now God is able to discern on his own that it's good Moses has to just see that they did what God Said So it's still God's standard it's not Moses standard but he looks and sees it it's all done that it's been done the way.
God told them to do it and He blesses them chapter 40 verse 1. the Lord spoke to Moses saying on the first day of the first month you shall erect the Tabernacle of the tent of meeting so on the first day of the first month you'll erect it and then it goes through you're going to set this up this up this up in this way and it goes through a big list of some of the stuff that we read earlier that they were getting everything together go to.
Verse 33. and he erected the court around the Tabernacle on the altar they've gone through the process of setting the stuff up and um consecrating it for the presence of the Lord so they didn't just throw it up but they went through a process of getting it ready and marking it with oil and doing some sacrifices and he erected the court around the Tabernacle on the Altar and he set up the screen of the Gate of the court so Moses finished the work you read through chapter 25 through 20 through 31.
And then you read through 35 and 39 you'll appreciate how much fun it was for Moses to write this I think when he got to write so Moses finished the work because it was a lot of work then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle y'all that's what we've been working towards that these people who were slaves would have God dwell among them and all the stuff that we've gone through where he's shown signs and wonders where he's rescued them where he brought them out or they wandered and argued and he had to provide.
For them with Manna and he had to work through all of this and when he gives his instructions on how to do this and he gives the Ten Commandments and he sets up a covenant people and they rebelled and he has to work to restore and to renew this Covenant and then they work to build all this it's all so that he might dwell among them that he desires to have his people in his presence in his place where they belong to him and his desire is like a.
Father who's trying to adopt and fill his household the children that he loves and it says the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle we shouldn't move quickly past that we should enjoy and Savor how good that is for the people of Israel that he desired to have them belong to him verse 35 and Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle throughout all their Journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from Over the Tabernacle the people of Israel would set out.
But if the cloud was not taken up then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up for the cloud of the Lord was on the Tabernacle by day and fire was in it by night in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their Journeys now if you'll remember the pillar of cloud and fire was leading the people of Israel but at a distance and they had attend a meeting that was set up outside of the camp.
Now the pillar of clown fire dwells on the Tabernacle in the midst of the camp he's surrounded by them and he told Moses if I show up like that I'm going to kill everybody because they're Wicked but Moses intercedes and God gives Grace so that this might happen the way God's designed it to happen but there's this whisper there's a whisper in this text that shows us that it's not done God's full final realized version of what he set out to do is not done I want you to.
See it it let's look back the 34 and 35. then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle and Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the clouds settled on it and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle picture of God's glory his holiness the Moses Moses to just walk in it's not like God walking with Adam and Eve in the garden there's a separation from God's glory and there's this whisper in the midst of this Crescendo and this delight in this Wonder there's this Whisper of not yet not exactly it's not fixed just yet.
And so Exodus points us to the glory of the Lord but it also in a very specific and real way points us to the glory of Christ that the story of The Exodus is meant for us to see how good our God is and then as it unfolds more to see how good the Lord Christ is because Jesus is the one who redeems us out of slavery to make us his people my wife watches these um murder shows True Crime stuff I have to make sure she's not like taking notes you know like on how to get away with things.
But she she watches these and one of the things that police will often ask people when something really terrible happens and they're doing investigations is they'll say is this the sort of thing that this person would do they'll interview friends and say is this something does this seem like something they do does this seem out of character does it seem in character I read the book of Exodus and then we consider that we were lost that we were rebellious that we were Wicked that we were dead in sin that we were slaves to sin that we desired to go back to our old Masters is is rescuing a people like that overcoming their sin.
When they work to actively break the Covenant so that they might belong to him and he might dwell in their midst is that the sort of thing Our God would do yes it's exactly the sort of thing he'd do when we read the book of Exodus we're meant to be able to see that's exactly the sort of thing he'd do that's exactly the type of God he is that's exactly when you look at the times that they sin and you think he's just going to eradicate them and he doesn't like that verse we read earlier that in his Divine forbearance he overlooked former sins.
So that he might be just and Justified that there's this moments where God carries it forward to pay for it in Christ so that he might be gracious so that he might be loving so that he might redeem a sinful people and Jesus is the one who rescues us out of slavery Jesus is the one who shows Mighty signs and wonders Jesus is the one who is our Passover Lamb whose blood is painted on the door that we might not have judgment fall on us.
Jesus is our bread from Heaven that comes down to to fulfill us and to give us life Jesus is the one who not only teaches us about the law but fulfills the law on our behalf so that the weight of the law does not fall on us but it falls on him and then the righteousness of the law is carried out in him and fulfilled in us because of his work Jesus is the one who in the midst of our Rebellion intercedes.
For us who goes up the mountain and says to God take me instead and who God accepts his sacrifice Jesus is the one who Tabernacles among us as the Incarnation of God in human flesh Jesus is the one who by his sacrifice makes it possible to where the spirit dwells inside of us that God would be surrounded by Wicked people is exactly what he's done when he renews us and restores us and his Spirit dwells in us in a specific and beautiful way just as he was intending to do with the whole nation of Israel he.
Now does inside the hearts of Believers and he does it in the Church to his great glory and credit of the work that Christ has accomplished and Jesus is the one who can enter into the tent where even Moses is cast out because of his Holiness and his righteousness and so as we studied the book of Exodus I hope that you grew in your love for Christ who is a better Moses who leads a people to the promised land fully and forever through his glory not ours in a way that resounds in the praise to our.
God let's pray God we're thankful that you're the type of God who saves rebellious slaves and we're thankful that you're the type of God who overcomes sin so that we might belong to you and we're thankful that you're the type of God who Delights to dwell among your people to get rid of their sin without getting rid of them so that we might have pleasure and Delight with you well we're thankful that you fulfilled the Covenant that you fulfilled the law that your blood covers Us and that ultimately we can trust you to be at work in us and to lead us to the Fulfillment of all things May there be great Glory given to.
Christ amen Matt's going to come back up we're going to take a moment together as a Church to take communion communion is a tangible reminder in Celebration of what Christ has done for us on the cross it's us proclaiming his death until he comes it's us remembering his sacrifice and so that when we take communion what we're acknowledging is that Jesus died for us he literally died to pay for our sins that he's our propitiation that we deserved death and wrath.
But that Jesus paid for and we're celebrating that that covers us and so that when God looks at you he does not see you in his sin but he sees you in Christ and so when we walk in Repentance we're moving ourselves into Delight in the Lord but we're not oscillating out of his salvation and back into it for we are covered by Christ and so you get to take seriously a moment to repent and to confess and then you get to come forward and Delight in and rejoice in that.
Jesus Christ and that our hope is in him if you are not a Christian communion is not for you can trust in Christ you can place your faith in him and he will save you he will not put the shame any who call on him but if you have not blessed your faith in Jesus we would ask for you to refrain from taking communion we have communion set up in the front and in the back and there's gluten-free communion elements at the back as.
Well so take a moment to pray and confess to remember our glorious Lord who redeems Sinners and when you're ready we'll take communion and then we'll sing together.
The Glory of God, Pt. 3 (34:10-35)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning so Fall allergies have hit me in full effect so you're going to hear some earthier tones this morning as we walk through the text today we are in the Book of Exodus chapter 34. verses 10 through 35 is on page 43 in the blue bibles if you want to grab one of those you can follow along the text will also be on the screen the past few weeks we have looked at the glory of God that Moses made this bold request to.
Behold the glory of God Show Me Your Glory and we saw that glory in God's goodness are are the same terms that in asking to see the glory of God his wonderful goodness would be uh displayed and we looked at that as God's uh Fierce love and his Fierce Justice held together to displays the character and the goodness of our God and then last we we looked at that the really the centralized aspect of God's glory some of the most powerful aspects of who he is and his goodness is displayed in his revealed face and that what Moses was asking was actually too wonderful.
For him to behold that as a sinner beholding God in this in his face which would lead to certain death that Sinners cannot gaze upon the glory of God because of our broken sinful natures and our broken sinful bodies and we looked at that bold request with the hope that one day we will behold the face of God that the end of the story for Christians is beholding the face of God in eternity forever and ever amen that we will get to gaze upon the Perfection of beauty and who he is forever and that's where we are going.
But there's also another aspect of God's glory to begin to look at today that as we finish out chapter 34 we're going to look at that what that means for us as Christians as we still get to meditate on the glory of God so let me pray and we'll want to this together heavenly father I pray that you would open our hearts to receive your word that with glad and generous Hearts we would receive it that it might shape us to be a people that are.
So in love with you and so in love with your glory that we would seek you and that comes through the initial step of faith that comes through daily enjoying you that comes through repentance that comes through worshiping you like we just got to do and I pray that you'd give us a wonderful vision for them in Jesus name amen all right so Exodus 32-34 we've been in this for a couple of months now and what's happening in these chapters is the people who were had received the Covenant of Moses they'd received the Ten Commandments.
And then they immediately rebel against God they reject him and worship a golden calf instead Moses coming down the mountain sees this and then he goes and he pleads with God do not destroy this people and then and then we get to see in the coming chapters there's this lingering is the Covenant going to be restored is God going to restore his Covenant with his people and then the past couple of weeks we've seen yes this Covenant will be restored and the rest of this chapter in 34 is kind of repeated language bringing up different uh passages that we saw on in Exodus 23 different aspects of this Covenant as it's being renewed.
So a lot about what to walk through is going to sound very familiar you've been walking with us through Exodus so we're going to start off in verse 10 it says and he said behold this is God speaking behold I am making a covenant before all your people I will do Marvels such as have not been created in all the Earth or in any Nation and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you and I just I.
So appreciate that verse before we walk through some of this repeated aspects of the Covenant being renewed that they rejected God they rejected him for a golden calf and God not only is granting forgiveness and restoration he says I'm going to do Marvels with you such have not been seen which is incredible if you've been with us through Exodus because you've seen God's Marvels poured out on the Egyptians you saw them cross the Red Sea we've seen God provide daily Manna.
For the people these are wonderful Marvels and God's saying I've got more that I want to do with you that I'm gonna do awesome things with you which is an incredible statement if you work for a big giant wonderful company I mean lots of employees a wonderful CEO and all of a sudden you at the break room for lunch and like a like a like a thoughtless child you took your tinfoil burrito and threw it in the microwave hit five minutes.
And then walked away and then came back and the microwaves on fire and the rooms on fire and the whole business Burns to the ground and it's all caught on footage backed up to the cloud and your boss invites you to your house and his house and shows the footage of you thoughtlessly throwing the Brito in hitting and walking away and you're waiting for the pink slip you're waiting like this is it I'm done and he looks at you and he says you messed up.
But I'm still gonna do awesome things with you you're gonna you're gonna stay on board here we're gonna rebuild this thing and I'm gonna do awesome things with you you'd go what I burnt your business to the ground what and now I get to do awesome things with you our God is wonderful y'all this is what he does he works with Sinners who Rebel all the time and he looks at us and he says I'm going to do marvelous things with you it's wonderful.
And then he continues in verse 11. observe what I command you this day behold I will drive out before you the amorites the Canaanites the Hittites the parasites the hivites and the jebusites take care unless you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go lest it become a snare in your midst you shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their ashram for you shall worship no other God for the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous.
God lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and when they hoar after their gods and sacrifice their gods and you are invited you eat of his sacrifice and you take of their daughters for your sons and their daughters after their gods and make your sons after their gods this is repeated language from Exodus 23. God when we walk through that section we got to see how God has judgment coming to the people of the land the the jebusites the Hittites the Canaanites this people who have committed all types of atrocities and Abominations they've done things like sacrifice their own children to foreign Gods they've done all these things and judgment will.
Fall upon them and he's saying do not make covenants with them lest you fall into the same trap of worshiping therefore in Gods don't in a marriage don't know this judgment will be upon this people don't do it we saw that in Exodus 23 and God is bringing that language back to remind them don't do this lest you chase other gods which by the way just happened and we see this more directly in Exodus verse 17. it says you shall not make.
For yourself any gods of cast metal now some repeat language from the second commandment in Exodus 20 but there's there's a phrase in there that wasn't there before that is very much a reminder of what just happened the word the phrase cast metal that comes right out of Exodus 32 the same language when Aaron is making a cast metal calf of gold and that's kind of thrown in there to help them see don't don't break the second commandment in this way that you just did be like showing up to the new business show up to the new break room and all of a sudden above the microwave is do not microwave burritos in this microwave.
And everyone knows it's you Jason that that notice is for you bro that's a reminder you you worshiped this cast metal object don't worship foreign Gods especially the one which you just did continues this renewing Covenant language in verse 18 you shall keep the Feast of unleavened bread seven days you shall eat unleavened bread as I commanded you at the time appointed the month of Eve for in the month of bib you came out of Egypt all that open the womb are mine all your male livestock the firstborn of cow and sheep the firstborn of a donkey shall be Dean with a lamb or.
If you will not redeem it you shall break its neck all the firstborn of you all the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem and None Shall appear before me empty-handed so again this is language we've already seen we've seen it in Exodus 13 when they Institute the Passover and and the Redemption rights for the firstborn it's a reminder that I your God your Redeemer redeemed you out of Egypt by striking down the firstborn of Egypt I redeemed you from slavery and you will.
Remember this through Passover through Redeeming the firstborn over and over again this language being brought back into the Covenant again and it keeps going with language on resting and feasting in verse 21 it says six days you shall work but on the seventh day you shall rest in plowing time and in Harvest you shall rest you shall observe the Feast of Weeks the first fruits of Wheat harvests and the Feast of end gathering at the Year's End three times in the year shall all your mouths appear before the.
Lord God the God of Israel for I will cast out Nations before you and enlarge your borders no one shall covet your land when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in a year and it's this language if you're going to rest that you were slaves in Egypt you recogn the machine where you work seven days a week and did not rest and I redeemed you and I'm bringing you back into this rhythm of working six days and resting on the seventh it goes back to Creation you're not a slave to a foreign Pharaoh you belong to me and you will rest and you will feast you'll.
Remember we walk through this in Exodus 23 the keeping of the feasts that help the people regularly celebrate that they are the people of God and they get to do that through their whole Feast calendar which if you if this is if you weren't with us for Exodus I'd encourage you to go back and listen to some of these sermons where we walk through these different aspects of the Covenant that's being renewed again in verse 25 it continues you shall not offer The Blood of My Sacrifice with anything leavened or let the sacrifice of the Feast of passive remain until the morning the best of the.
First fruits on your ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God you shall not boil a young goat at its mother's milk which we saw this language in Exodus 23 but it's instructions on in this Covenant you're going to keep the sacrifices in the way that I tell you to do and you're not going to mix them in a way with some of the Pagan ways of offering Sacrifice from the Pagan practices like boiling a young goat in its mother's milk you won't do what the people of the land do you are going to do what I am telling you to do as my people separate from the Nations.
So this covenant's being renewed with some summarized language from before and it's getting wrapped up here in verse 27 and the Lord said to Moses write these words for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel he's like write these down bring them back to the people and and he's he's he's summarizing that bringing it to a to a conclusion here you you are my Covenant people I'm still going to walk with you still gonna be with you I will be your.
God you will be my people Moses has to be joyful at this point knowing yes we're back in favor with God and in verse 28 it says so he was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights he neither ate bread nor drank water and he wrote on the tablets the words of the Covenant the ten Commandments so he spends the next 40 days and 40 nights with God supernaturally sustains him with complete dependence upon him during this period of time through an absolute fast from both bread and water and he spends this 40 days and 40 nights with.
God ready to bring down the good news of this renewed Covenant to the Israelites and then when he comes down the mountain there's something different about Moses and that is because you cannot experience the power of our God like Moses did and leave unchanged you don't experience the power of God like this and leave unscathed in the best way possible he Journeys down the mountain we pick it back up in 29. when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone.
Because he had been talking with God Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses and behold the skin of his face Shone and they were afraid to come near him but Moses called to them and Aaron all the leaders of the congregation returned to him and Moses talked with them so Moses tablets in hand joyfully excited to tell the people you're not going to be abandoned God Is With Us starts coming down the mountain and then all of a sudden the people who are at the base.
See this light in the distance approaching and this isn't like a flashlight in the darkness or something different about this light and and this light has power in it and all of a sudden it's getting closer and it's getting closer and people are starting to to cringe a little bit they're starting to Shield themselves it's too much they're starting to be afraid and then at some point they piece together this is Moses and there's something about him his face is shining.
Now at some point as the people are stirring and Afraid witnessing Moses's face shining at some point someone has to tell them Moses you face is shining like get him a mirror get him a pail of water let them see this but your face is glowing there's uh one Theologian some or one commentator I think nailed it he said Moses glow is actually an Afterglow from being in God's presence this is Afterglow somewhere between Moses's profoundly wonderful experience with God when he asked to.
See his glory somewhere between him God covering him in the cleft of The Rock and passing by and in the next 40 days and 40 nights that he spent with God somewhere in that time Moses is very complexion changes his face begins to Glow with the glory of God there's Afterglow shimmering from his face displaying emanating the glory of God and that is because Moses experienced his glory and his power in a way that no one really has since Adam and Eve and you don't get to experience.
God like that and leave unchanged he has this intense experience and now Moses who's the the mediator he's the one in the middle between the people and God needs an intermediary for himself because the people can't stand in his presence and they're they're scared so he needs something that's going to kind of Shield a little bit this Glory verse 32 afterward all the people of Israel came near and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai.
And when Moses had finished speaking with them he put a veil over his face so now Moses in order to be with the people and them not be fearful he has to put a veil of his face I mean this is very similar to the Tabernacle and we spent some time looking at the Tabernacle that in the innermost part of the Tabernacle was a place called the holy of holies this room is where God ruled and reigned from and there was a a curtain a veil that separated the holy of holies from the rest of the Tabernacle and this veil was needed.
Because God and His glory is too wonderful for Sinners to Behold Him so this Veil separates God from the people and in the same way there's an Afterglow of Glory bound up in the face of Moses and there's a veil that is needed so that the people can be in his presence so that Moses can be amongst his people which I just for a moment this isn't the main part part of the story but I just I appreciate if you've been with us long enough in Exodus just Moses as a person to study as a character study with things helpful to do sometimes we want to be like Christ.
Okay doesn't mean that you know you study David so you can slay Giants I'm not arguing for that but I'm saying is that sometimes it's helpful to look at different people in the Scriptures and notice things about them one of the things I love about Moses is that he is Meek he's Meek he is mild and God uses the meek and the mind to do wonderful things the meek shall inherit the earth for a reason so sometimes we just get it twisted we get in our ideas that strength is this idea that is not biblical.
But actually meekness is strength and God uses his meekness to the point now where he has to he's so powerful he has to keep his face bound up again it's not the main point of story but it's worth examining its own so verse 34 it says whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him he would remove the veil until he came out and when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded the people of Israel would.
See the face of Moses that the skin of Moses face was shining and Moses would put the veil over his face again until he went in to speak with him and this is the pattern of ministry going forward after Sinai in fact this Mark's really the pivot in in the wilderness narrative where they're leaving Sinai and the ministry is going to be this point for going forward in the wilderness with Moses and his people and Moses is going to regularly enter into the tent of meeting he's going to meet with.
God and that is going to come out and teach them more about his laws where we're going to get the Book of Leviticus and numbers in Deuteronomy he's going to teach them more about who their God is and his face is going to continue to Glow and that's just what is going to continue to do and I just one commentator he talks about Moses and I'll summarize what he said but basically he just said this is really Exodus 32-34 this really does establish Moses as he's the goat the prophets he is the greatest I mean he just he's just amongst all the prophets in the Old Testament he he stands apart I mean even the.
Last few chapters when the people rebel and Moses comes down and he stands between them and God and he pleads with God mediates for the people and then when God says all right you can go to the promised land but I'm not going and he says God I'm going to go where you go I don't want the promised land without your presence God if you're in the wilderness that's where we'll be from that all the way into asking to see the glory of.
God we've got to spend some time looking at that to coming down the mountain and now the rest of his ministry he's going to have this these these intensely wonderful experiences with God where he leaves with some glory on his face just shows who Moses is as a prophet the reason why he was so revered and so rightfully respected for centuries to follow and Judaism I mean that and just what he brings to them which is something that is the foundation.
For their belief it's the law it really does help us see the ministry of Moses going forward how wonderful it is now that's the end of chapter 34. we this this hint of what's what's going forward is that he's going to regularly go into the tentative meeting he's going to meet with God it's going to come out he's going to have glow on his face he's going to teach the people the law now when we try to understand the Old Testament.
Okay when we're studying the Old Testament we're studying these stories one of the difficult parts of interpretation is that I understand these stories isolated by themselves but to actually understand these stories in light of the bigger message of the Gospel from Genesis to Revelation what we're trying to do is understand these stories in Light of Christ and that takes work it takes slowly reading passages like this and trying to understand like What's Happening Here how does this correct to this bigger story of God's Redemption.
And then every now and then we get a wonderful gift from the New Testament because every now and then the New Testament does the work for us and that's what we have for this story right here that second Corinthians 3 is that chapter that helps us look back at this story and understand it in Light of Christ for the rest of our time that's what we're going to be we're going to be in second Corinthians chapter three on your blue in your blue Bibles that's page 561.
If you want to follow along but we're going to the text will be on the screen as well second Corinthians 3 is really interpreting Exodus 32 through 34 in light of the New Covenant of Christ it's looking back at the event that we've been in the last few weeks that really find their ending in the story that we went into today it's understanding that in Light of Christ now let me give you some context for second Corinthians because we're jumping into a book.
Second Corinthians is a defense written by Paul who's an apostle it's a defense of his ministry of the Gospel and his apostleship to the Church at Corinth who at the time was Wayward in sin but also being led astray by people who were coming in and teaching a different message so Paul is having to defend his apostleship and defend the ministry of the Gospel that he established when he planted this Church so but he's going to use Exodus 32-34 to make that bigger Point pick it up in.
Verse 1. are we beginning to commend ourselves again or do we need as some do letters of recommendation to you or from you which by the way that's rhetorical and I think it's sarcasm he's like do we need a lot of recommendation answers no you verse 2 yourselves are our letter of recommendation written on our hearts to be known and read by all and you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us written not with ink but with the spirit of the Living.
God not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts so Paul says that I don't need a letter of recommendation to be able to justify the ministry that we established here the letter of recommendation is your changed Hearts it's the Holy Spirit changing your heart and that didn't come through reading the law so he says tablets of stone that's what he's talking about that didn't come through your interactions with the law which we catch a hint of what teaching has been weaving its way into the Corinthian Church it's at the same teaching that's weaved its way into many churches at that time and that was uh Jewish Christians who were upholding the law.
Saying you can have Jesus but you also need to obey the law so we see hints of that teaching that it's weaved its way into here and Paul is establishing no it is the Holy Spirit that changes Hearts verse 4 such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming from us but our sufficiency is from God who has made us sufficient to be Ministers of a new covenant not of the letter.
But of the spirit the letter kills but the spirit gives life so he highlights here's the difference between the old Covenant and the New Covenant the old Covenant of the letter it kills it highlights the death that we deserve because we cannot uphold the law because of our sin the letter kills the spirit on the other hand gives life as one commentator puts it he says the spirit alone gives life because only the spirit can change the heart thereby enabling God's people to keep his commands.
So he says the law wasn't what changes your heart it's the spirit of God that changes your heart you know how we know this Exodus 32. the people receive the Ten Commandments and then 10 seconds later say you know what golden calf disregarding the second commandment let's worship this instead if the letter was sufficient at changing the human heart the Old Testament would read radically different because I don't know if you've read the rest of the Old Testament it goes poorly.
For the people over and over and over again it feels like watching a train wreck in slow motion on repeat the letter does not change it only brings death it only highlights the death that we have because we cannot be changed through our good works and Obedience of the law the change that happens that truly matters in the human heart it's by the power of the Holy Spirit he continues now if the ministry of death which I just appreciate it's like we're talking about the law right the law is wonderful and good he's like New Covenant the help the ministry of death carved in letters on Stone came with such Glory that the Israelites could.
Not gaze at Moses face because of its Glory which when we read the Bible we should go wait a second I know that story which was being brought to an end will not the ministry of the spirit have even more Glory for if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory I don't want us to miss what he just said there the old Ministry the old Covenant was a Ministry ultimately of death highlighting the condemnation that we deserved.
And if that came with this glorious picture that we just saw of Moses coming down the mountain face glowing if it comes with some Afterglow how much better is the ministry of the New Covenant that we have it's so much better because we have the Holy Spirit verse 10 indeed end this case what once had Glory has come to have no glory at all because of the glory that surpasses it four if what was being brought to an end came with Glory much more.
Well what is permanent have Glory so he finishes off this this first part is really interpreting those that story Exodus 30-34 and he says boy oh boy that which came to an end at glory in itself how much more glorious is faith in Christ and the spirit changing our hearts in a way that never ends has so much sweeter that's so much better so he makes a pivot there and interpreting Exodus 32-34 now he's about to apply it to the people.
Verse 12. since we have such a hope we are very bold not like Moses who were put a veil over his face the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end but their minds were hardened for this day when they read the old Covenant the same Veil remains unlifted because only through Christ is it taken away yes to this day whenever Moses is read a veil Lies over their hearts he says those who put their hope and the law those who put their hope and their own good works and their own good behavior through obedience and law he's talking about the Jewish people he says that Veil still.
Covers their hearts they can't see and behold God they don't know him they're looking for life but they're actually only receiving death because obedience to the law doesn't save and it never will and they're missing out on the glory of God there's a wonderful picture we've looked at for weeks now they're missing out on his glory their hearts are hardened their eyes are darkened they cannot see and behold God for who he is the veil Still Remains the only way that Veil is removed.
So that so that you can behold God but trusting and the finished work of Christ it's about trusting that he fulfilled the law on our behalf it's by trusting that he went to the Cross to die for our sins by trusting that he conquered death of the Resurrection it's by putting all of our hope in Christ and not the law because if your hope is in the law and if your hope is in good works the veil remains verse 16.
When one turns to the Lord the veil is removed now the Lord is the spirit and we're the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom he says that when we turn from our sin and from our hope in the law from our hope and good works and obedience and we turn to Christ the veil is removed and when that happens there is freedom there's wonderful freedom freedom from condemnation to sin freedom from a need to be good to be good to obey the law to do all the right things freedom from this ministry of death and freedom to Christ Freedom 2 beholding.
God Freedom two not having to go back to the old yoke of obeying the law but trusting the finished work of Christ as our holy hope there is freedom that is found in faith in Jesus alone there's freedom to enjoy him and to worship him and to Behold Him with this freedom we get to Behold Him and as we Behold Him we are changed and this is where the argument ends Verse 18 and we all with unveiled face behold the glory of the.
Lord beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of Glory to another for this comes from the Lord who is the spirit just as beholding God changed Moses it's literally it changed his complexion so beholding our God through faith transforms us and it lifts the veil off the heart so that we can actually Behold Him so that we can experience more of his glory but it's continual it's one degree of Glory to the next one degree of Glory into another degree of Glory which I don't fully I can't fully picture what he's getting up there.
But it sounds incredibly awesome this idea that will conform more to the image of Christ from one degree of Glory to the next last week we sat in this picture of the end state of reality for Christians that's beholding God's face with new eyes and that's it that's where we're going and I want us to miss that that should be so like ingrained in the fabric of our being that we would look at this life and say I don't want what this life has to offer.
Because what what what what awaits me for eternity is is infinitely better but don't miss that that's not the only picture of Glory that we give because there is a regular daily aspect of beholding God from one degree of glory to the next and to the next and to the next and to the next and that's called sanctification that's called becoming more like Christ don't miss that right that we get to behold God regularly in Daily and when we do that it changes us from one degree to the next and to the next into the next some of you all have known Christians who have walked with.
God for decades I mean you've got you've gotten to see someone up close change the spirit work in their heart daily and daily through the decades and it's wonderful when you get to see that and if you have it if you haven't got to see this long-term play out I encourage you to spend some time with some of our older Saints in this Church get to know them in their stories and I'm sure what they're going to tell you is is that yeah they're not perfect at all far from it.
But they are different than what they were 50 years ago are different they were 40 years ago and that was through daily beholding God from one degree to the next to the next to the next in a way that they're not as anxious as they used to be they're not as angry as they used to be that there's this peace there's this love there's this Joy there's this faithfulness there's this gentleness there's this kindness there's this self-control that they've grown into.
Because the fruit of the spirit has been shaped in them because from one degree of glory to the next they have taste it in seeing that the Lord is good and they found their refuge in him and they've seen that he's actually truly better sometimes trying to take in faith just feels like I just don't know what I got you I mean I'm just so broken I'm so messed up I don't know if I'm gonna get this that's a great place to be in.
Because that's the best that's the beginning the Genesis of faith is recognizing that I'm broken and I need Jesus but boy oh boy faith is a lifelong journey from one degree to the next and the invitation is there you want the glory of God do you want the glory of God do you want to behold his face forever one degree at a time to the next and to the next into the next this comes through the things that we talk about all the time and we won't stop talking about them.
Because they're wonderful that comes through beholding God and his word this comes through growing in prayer this comes through repentance this comes through being open and honest at your community groups on care nights this comes through walking in the light with brothers and sisters this comes through uh Faithfully following Jesus every day from one degree of glory to the next so the invitation is there it's waiting for you you want Jesus believe in him you want more of them taste.
See every day and you're going to experience them from one degree of glory to the next into the next to the next and to the next and to the next and boy oh boy we won't even come close to the finished product not a chance but every degree of Glory ends up being better every degree of Glory is the spirit changing us until one day we will actually Behold Him and there will be no degrees left it'll just be Jesus let me pray Heavenly.
Father we pray that you would help us behold you and worship right now and when we leave here we pray that we be a people with veils off for hearts beholding you every day because you are beautiful and you are wonderful and you're better than anything this world has to offer and I pray that you would help us believe that with everything in us we would Bank Our Hope on that reality Jesus name amen band's going to come up so so much of the message sometimes gets mixed up especially in southern Christianity that following.
Jesus is about cleaning your life up and it's about getting your life together getting your stuff together so that you could be back in Church that you can so you can be around the Christians and I just want to say that's Moses y'all if you came looking for Moses and trying to clean your life up that's that's a Ministry of death don't do it some of y'all I just want to extend the invitation of Faith to actually behold God for who he is and that doesn't come through cleaning your life up doesn't come through a bunch of good works that comes through surrendering to our.
God so believe and surrender to him and behold him for who he is and then walk the journey with us as a group of broken Christians that are seeking to grow to be like Jesus one degree at a time.
The Glory of God, Pt. 2 (Exodus 33:18-34:9)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
The Glory of God, Pt. 1 (Exodus 33:18-34:8)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is Spencer I am one of the pastors here we are in Exodus chapter 33 18 verses 34 through 34 Verse 8. we're going to be in this passage uh for two weeks we're gonna hit it from two different angles I was in it original intent was to make this one sermon and then it was just like nah there's no way too too much so we're gonna look at this from two different angles this morning so you can be on page 42 in the blue Bibles around you uh the text will also be on the screen you can follow along uh with us.
So we uh uh pastors just got back from our pastor's Retreat um so the four Elders four Pastors in our Church plus our pastor and Elder and training Isaac we all went up to Lake Greenwood we do this once a year we get away it's uh we call it 100 Fun 100 work it really shouldn't be called a retreat because I think Retreat implies like getting away to rest um which it is not that but we spent a lot of time praying and debating and it's been formative and how our uh in shaping kind of the future of our Church and it's also a lot of fun we get to hang out together it's the.
One time of year we get to have some fun together one of the ways that we do this is we have a meal competition so we divide up teams every year uh there's this year it was Raz Chet and myself and Isaac and Matt and you have a breakfast and a lunch and a dinner and the goal is to execute the best set of three meals and every year it's come down to basically who takes two of the three uh and you know I'm not here to boast or brag.
But we did win uh and that's two years in a row for me which is nice because I was on a three-year losing streak up until a few years ago but uh we made a lunch where we did basically Cantina 76 style tacos all right so each you know Raz chat myself each took a taco we owned that taco as a part of the lunch so Chet made a delicious fried fish taco that was the best razzmade a carne asada Taco which lost us the round I'm not bitter about it I'm fine we could have had a sweep would have been two years in a row that's fine I made this Nashville hot chicken taco.
And uh and I was you know I brought Chet in because I was like we need to we need to make sure the flavor profile on this Taco is money like we got to make sure I don't want it to just be all overwhelming on the front end and then that's all you can taste I want some heat and some flavor on the front end I want you to bite into it and we were messing with the flavor profile to make sure that happens I want you once you swallow it the aftertaste to just be delightful.
So much so that as you continue to to chew on this you want more of it and I stuck The Landing it was great but that's a little bit of what Moses has been experiencing as he's walked with God from orib from that Horeb up until now that he's gotten to taste the Lord a little bit got it to see who he is experience him from Europe all the way to his uh the the ten plagues and experience in God and we saw last week a little bit that he was there was a temporary tent of meeting where you get to meet with.
God he met with him and he went into the cloud at Mount Sinai there's all these instances where Moses has gotten to experience more and more of God and what we get to today is this bold request from Moses who wants more because as he's experienced Our God he wants more of him and this bold request is what we're going to look at today and not just the request itself but how God responds to this bold request to see the glory of.
God and we're going to get to see how wonderful our God is the richness of his character and His glory and his goodness and what that means for us as Christians looking at this so let me pray and we'll walk through this text together Heavenly Father we thank you for the good news of the Gospel that saves redeems sets us apart to be a people who regularly get to taste and see that you are good you get to see how wonderful you are and the songs that we just sang and the Scriptures that were read.
Now in this text that we get to walk through together Lord may you open our hearts our eyes and our minds to experience you that may respond in faith and in Repentance and in worship and ultimately delighting in you we ask this in Jesus name amen all right so we pick up basically right where Chet left off last week so Chet walk us through uh that after the golden calf incident so after the people reject God for a golden calf instead and the tablets are broken and the Covenant is shattered there's this wondering what's going to happen next and what Chet walked us through last week is.
God saying you can go to the promised land I will make good on this you will get to the promised land I'm just not going to be there so you can have the land of it's flowing with milk and honey but I'm not going to be there and Moses just he just responses oh no where you are is where we're going to be if you're in the wilderness we'll be in the wilderness we're not going to the promised land without you.
God It's a Wonderful response and we pick up right in that same this is the next part of the interaction in verse 18. it says Moses said please show me your Glory please show me your glory now as I said earlier Moses has experience of the presence of God and some of his glory since he was called at Mount Horeb which when you look at the two kind of interactions of Mount Horeb he's fearfully kind of oh oh with God.
Now he's kind of boldly walking it's just a really cool difference in how he's experienced God and he's wanting more of him but it at Mount Horeb as he's walked with them through the plagues as they exit Egypt and the temporary tent of meeting that we saw last week is he's got to experience God over and over and over again as they went as he went into the cloud at Mount Sinai and he got the Ten Commandments even in Exodus 24.
When they when Moses and the elders have a meal at the feet of God and his presence on the mount he's gotten to experience God more and more and more now he just says Show Me Your Glory it's a profound request it's it's a big deal he has not experienced this what he's asking for here he has not experienced yet now we'll get into next week more of what's happening in that request but there's really two ways of reading this request one is that he's asking this as a representative of the people of.
God which he is he's asking this on behalf of Israel as their representative the other aspect that you can look at this is say that this is a personal request from Moses so show me us as a representative of your people Your Glory or God showed me personally Your Glory now theologians and Bible nerds debate back and forth which one it is and I would argue that I think both of them are true there's no way you can hear Moses request disconnected from that he's represented of the people of.
God so what he's saying Show Me Your Glory he's asking for a sign here that there's no right up until this point the Covenant is not good has not been restored okay the people are still in rebellion and God is he's not brought wrath on them fully but he has not restored the Covenant yet and there's a little bit of him asking on behalf of people of God give us a sign Show Me Your Glory are we good God so there's that aspect that that absolutely is a part of this.
But I don't think that's all that there is I think there's another aspect of this that has both a representative of God of the people to God and himself that he's saying God show Me Your Glory because he doesn't say show us your glory Show Me Your Glory that he wants to know more of God personally however that's a big request that's a huge jump from the interactions that he's had with God to show me who you are and your glory that's a big leap one of my favorite shows on YouTube which me presenting that makes it seem like I watch a lot of shows on YouTube one of the only shows I watch on.
YouTube and it happens to also be my favorite is a show called Hot ones all right and this show it's very simple it's a guy interviewing celebrities while they eat hot wings that's it they ten different hot wings and the first Wing is a milder sauce and it gets progressively more intense as it goes along and the Brilliance of it is that celebrities most of the time when they do interviews they're fake they're just not being themselves and I get that.
If you if I had to be interviewed all the time I'd also probably would be fake I think I would be tired I think I would just tell you what you wanted to hear I would probably say all kinds of things so a lot of times you hear these interviews they're just they're acting they're faking their way through it but the Brilliance of this show is that as they're eating these hot wings like their guard is let down their mouth is on fire like they they just start talking freely.
So it's pretty it's a pretty incredible concept but the first Wing is mild towards the end they're scalding all right and the eighth Wing is the same sauce every time it's called the bomb okay now it's technically not the hottest sauce it's not on the Scoville level the hottest sauce of the tin but by testimony of people it is the hottest sauce like every celebrity who eats it there's like this is like eating battery acid it scalds them and if you just want to spend 10 minutes watching compilations of like Shaq and Jennifer Lawrence and all these celebrities just like crying and losing it and melting and falling apart and drinking milk.
Because it's burning their lips and their tongue and their throat and their stomach it's worth it but they don't jump from one to eight y'all that's not how that works they progressively build their way up to it and Moses has had like Wing One Wing let two level experiences with God he's got to experience God and His presence and some pretty profound and amazing ways but what he just asked for was Next Level okay what he just asked for is the bomb level experience with.
God and he doesn't know what he's asking fully otherwise he would have asked it and if we don't have time to get into that this week but if he does experience the glory of God and what he's asking he'll die because he can't see the glory of God as a sinner and live but he's asking for this unbelievably profound experience with God Show Me Your Glory and this is how God responds verse 19 and he said this is the Lord I will make all my goodness pass before you and will Proclaim before you my name the.
Lord now a couple things here he says Show Me Your Glory and then God says I'll make all my goodness pass before you so goodness and Glory are the same here and how God is described by to describe himself that's important because for us glory is a very difficult concept to imagine it just is it's an American it's a western it's just Glory it's just not something we we think through well biblically we have ideas of it they're just not the most biblical ideas uh there's a movie that came out a few months ago called air uh it's a sports movie it's about how Nike landed Michael Jordan and his shoe contract.
So if you like sports movies and you like NBA basketball like I do to ride up your alley so 10 of you will love it all right so in air the whole bit the whole what's about is they're trying to land Michael Jordan Nike can't land Michael Jordan on their own because at that point they're a cute little running shoe company they're not cool at all in fact Adidas was the favorite to land Michael Jordan at the time because Adidas was the shoe at the time.
But they do this is a whole build up like it's a whole storyline of how they actually get to finally had an interview they got to sit down with Michael and they make their pitch the pitch isn't going well they're blowing it Michael Jordan's not interested at all and then in the most Pinnacle moment of movie Matt Damon goes off script who's the main character and he just makes this appeal to Michael Jordan he gets the speech and as the speech is going there's this Montage highlights of all of Michael Jordan's highlights and basketball and the music's building up and he says this to Michael Jordan the shoe is just a shoe until someone steps.
Into it then it has meaning the rest of us just want a chance to touch that greatness we need you in those shoes not so that you have meaning in your life so that we have meaning in ours and it's a little ridiculous because we're talking about a shoe and a basketball player let's worship y'all it's like so we we need meeting in our life so that you can be in these shoes now what he's capturing there is Glory okay that's what he's going.
For so we want to we want to we just want to be able to touch your glory Michael and it's showing all of his best moments in basketball as this speech is going on now the reason this speech has ridiculous and over the top as it is the reason it even makes sense is because Michael Jordan is arguably the best basketball player that has ever lived one of the best athletes that's ever lived and I know some of you are big LeBron fans you're like no.
But wait listen I'm not here to argue that I don't like LeBron or Michael Jordan to be honest you can have that debate on your own Michael Jordan is one of the greatest athletes that has ever lived the only the reason that scene even makes sense is because he scored 30 points a night over his career which is ridiculous in basketball for his career he averaged 30 points a night he won six titles in just heroic fashion okay if Michael Jordan doesn't do that there is no movie.
If he's a bust Matt Damon isn't fawning over him saying I just want to touch your greatness that's not no because of what Michael Jordan did on the court right because he was great on the court that's why that scene makes sense it's not because he's a great person which if you know about Michael Jordan he's a jerk I don't care I don't know Michael Jordan but every person that like he just pieced together all the stories it's not a likable person and maybe I'm a little bitter.
Because not only did he keep the Charlotte Hornets who I grew up brewing for from ever making the finals he ended up buying by he purchased the Charlotte franchise after his career and ran that franchise into the ground so for 30 years Michael Jordan ruined basketball for me but that's not the point the point is is that he was great on the court had nothing to do with him as a person but that's how we understand Glory y'all we understand Glory about the great things that people do it's the great things that you do that make you glorious that's how we understand Glory and certainly.
God is great because of the things that he has done but that is not the only reason he is glorious down to his very essence and his very being God is glorious he's not just glorious because of the things that he's done he is glorious he is the epitome of what glory is and in the English language the best catch-all term that we can have is is all the goodness of God which is wonderful but that doesn't even capture.
Because language can't even capture the glory of God it just can't he says I will make my glory who I am my goodness who I am past Before You O Proclaim my name the Lord which we spent on some time on earlier in Exodus that even his name is wonderful and glorious because of all the character that flows out of his name so God is glorious he says and continues and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show Mercy on whom I will show Mercy.
Verse 20. but he said this is the Lord you cannot see my face for man shall not see me and live and the Lord said behold there's a place by me where you shall stand on the Rock and well my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of The Rock and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by then I will take away my hand and you shall see my back but by face you shall not.
See shut my face shall not be seen which awesome we're not spending any time on that this week that's all next week so there's a lot of questions that come out of that a lot of things you want to talk about that's next week okay so as that chapter 34 verse 1. the Lord said to Moses cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke.
Now that that right there is sandwiched between some pretty big verses and passages and you got to skip over that and keep going but that's a big deal what he just said when he said cut for yourself two tablets of stone Moses probably went oh yes the Covenant is going to be restored that's what he just said it's been lingering here are we going to be able to go on the promised land with you are you still going to be our.
God are you still going to be your people and when he says cut for yourself two tablets of stone that I'm gonna write the Ten Commandments on oh yes Hallelujah God is with us he's not going to abandon us this is good news keeps going verse two be ready by the morning and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain no one shall come up with you and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.
So very similar to what we saw in Exodus 19. this is a holy moment a holy event no one comes to the mountain no animal comes to the mountain nobody continues verse 4 so Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first and he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded him and took in his hand two tablets of stone the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the.
Lord so this is when everything he said about hiding them to cleft The Rock and putting his hand over him all that's happening right here and again it's wonderful and we're gonna spend all our time next week looking at that right there for the rest of our time and God descends by Moses this is what he says and this is where we're going to spend the rest of our time on verse 6. the Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord a.
God merciful and gracious slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness keeping steadfast love for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin but who by no means cleareth the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers and the children of the children's children the third and fourth generation and Moses quickly bowed his head toward the Earth and worshiped so God audibly vocally describes himself he says not a prophet speaking on behalf of God God descends in this powerful moment and he describes who he is the.
Lord the Lord his wonderful name Yahweh and that it is further described with this description this is the goodness of God you want the goodness of God summarized this is it I'll make your my glory and my goodness pass before you this is the description right here this is the goodness of God and this is one of the most powerful statements throughout the Old Testament this phrasing that God describes himself with is used over and over and over and over again throughout the rest of the Old Testament numbers 14 Deuteronomy chapter 5 and Deuteronomy chapter 7.
Second Kings 13 second chronicles verse 30 or chapter 30. Nehemiah 9 all over the Psalms Psalm 35 78 86 99 103 106 145 Jeremiah 20 Daniel 9 Joel 2 Jonah 4 it is either quoted or alluded to over and over and over again throughout the rest of the Old Testament so if that is the case and this is a summary description of the goodness of God then we should spend some time looking at how wonderful this description of God is and that's what we want to do we want to.
See that the goodness of God and the glory of God is not just a visual experience that Moses gets to be a part of but it is a description of who he is it is his character and it shows really the wide range of God's goodness and his character and if you were to categorize this in two broad categories one is the love of God the fierce love of God and the second is the justice of God so let's work through this starting with this.
First part of the description which is really the love of God so the first thing he says is that he's merciful and gracious God is merciful and gracious that is literally on display in the fact that he does not bring judgment upon the People by wiping them out when they reject him for a golden calf at the base of the mountain he's merciful he relents he doesn't bring his judgment upon them he's merciful he relents he's gracious maybe he gives favors to people that they don't deserve they don't earn this favor.
But he's merciful and he's gracious one of my favorite parts of the musical Les Mis is the very beginning when the main character Jean Valjean this is set in the French Revolution he gets out of prison when he gets out of prison and that period of the French Revolution he's can't get work starving he's he's a social pariah and he ends up on the doorstep of a bishop in the Catholic Church and the bishop acts like a Christian and he takes him into his house and it gives them a meal it gives him a bed to sleep in he takes care of them in the middle of the night Jean mil Jean grabs a bag.
And grabs as many valuable items in the house as possible loads it up steals his stuff and gets away now he doesn't get very far policeman catches him brings him back to the bishop knowing where these items came from and he says this man says that you gave him these knowing good and well he stole it and the bishop looks at Jean Valjean right for the police officer and this is what he says he says but my friend you left so early surely something slipped your mind and it goes and he grabs two silver candlesticks and he gives them to him he says you forgot I gave these also would you leave the best behind.
But remember this my brother see this some higher plan you must use this precious silver to become an honest man and he gives him the silver he says take this use this change your life and spoiler alert that's the whole rest of the musical it's in living a better life and it's such an overwhelmingly beautiful picture of the grace and the mercy of God that he he stole from him he stole fine objects lots of riches and he says now take this awesome we attempt to steal Glory from.
God all the time all the time as prideful human beings we sin against God all the time endless amounts of sin and rebellion and God and His mercy and Grace says take this also he gives us himself he's unbelievably gracious and merciful in spite of our sin he shows Mercy when we don't deserve it and it gives Grace when we don't deserve it God is unbelievably gracious and merciful and the nice thing he says is he's slow to anger he's slow to anger.
Now it's even slower when you understand this and read this wisely when you understand this theologically okay what happens is that Skeptics what they'll do is they'll say you know the Old Testament your God is just he's like a he's like an angry child like the people do things they sin against him and then he just pours out his wrath immediately and it's like you're not you're not a wise reader of the Scriptures you certainly don't understand this theologically because if you think that.
God is experiencing their rebellion in real time you you have completely misunderstood our God it's hard for us to picture and imagine but God created time so if God created a time and think of the time as this represented by this pen okay God created time he's outside of time okay so he's that means that God existed and Eternity passed Before Time which that breaks our brain and we can't reprimands around that but it's biblically true he existed in eternity past.
Okay is always existed and then he operates within time that he's created so the people of God Rebel here at this moment in time he sees it coming in eternity pass when we Rebel in this part of time God sees it coming way before it happens and God exists in eternity future which again breaks the brain and it presents a lot of other questions that I'm not going to resolve for you but God is slow to anger because he sees a rebellion way before it even happens and he doesn't destroy us.
God is he's so slow to anger y'all he sees it coming and he sees it coming and he's slow and he's patient and he's enduring and he's steadfast he's so slow to anger when I think about this in light of my own self man I just for all of sin and fallen short of the glory of God and I'm just like I know it because my children they do think sometimes and I'm like because I'm experiencing in real time and I'm just I'm not slow to anger I'm working on it.
But I'm not slowed anger God is slow to anger he's so unbelievably slow to anger with impatient as we sin and as we mess up and as we rebel against him he's slow to anger he's abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness abounding y'all and steadfast love and faithfulness that we do not deserve like we we can't categorize how rich that is we don't have we don't understand that like I play this game with my kids sometimes uh when we when I put them to bed and I say I love you.
So much and they say I love you too and I say well I love you more and I say I love you most and I say well I love you mostest and they're just because I love you times a thousand times infinity my kid watched Toy Story he said enter to infinity and beyond it's like nice move kid and we do this back and forth because I love my kids I have steadfast love and faithless my kid there's only one other person in the world that gets more of my stuff as love and faithfulness and that's my wife.
And then it's my children and then there's a gap that just that that's that's what happens it's just I I have this steadfast love and faithfulness towards my kids and that right there and if your parent you understand this this is even true for friendship there's speaking of steadfast love and friendship all of that pictures is a is a poor picture in comparison to the steadfast love of God you think you love your kids you don't understand the love of God you don't understand how steadfast and is his love and his richness and kindness and his faithfulness towards us he's.
So unbelievably loving towards his people and it continues keeping steadfast love to thousands for giving iniquity and transgression and sin God forgives his people of their sin and their repentance is a forgiving God he gives second and third and fourth chances all the time and y'all we love Second Chance stories we eat that up the plot line for so many movies and books we love the story when somebody gets out of prison and restarts their life we love the woman who declares bankruptcy.
And then restarts a business and then it succeeds we love those stories and that story Thompson Infinity you're getting the picture at this point God gives a second third and fourth chances over and over again he's so forgiving he's so unbelievably forgiving of all of our waywardness and Rebellion how how much of a relief must have been for Aaron when Moses came down the mountain with two fresh tablets man we're in he's not he's still with us he still loves us.
God is unbelievably forgiving now these descriptions he could spend sermons on each one of them they're just wonderful and as an American westerners like that's we like that aspect of the goodness of God preach right tell me more of that the next part we're less comfortable with and many of us If we're honest we wouldn't say this is an aspect of the goodness of God because it goes on to say God says but who will by no means cleared the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers and the children and the children's children to the.
Third and fourth generation now that exact phrasing is the same language that we saw in the second commandment when we walked to the second commandment a while back in Exodus same same phrasing that if you if you persist in sin the Obama means clear the guilty and what's being pictured here is generational sin and I'll say what I said then all those months ago still true I think John Piper Nails it when he describes this he describes this right here generational sin as like a disease.
If you're father gets the flu that does not automatically mean that you're going to get the flu it's how that works okay however if you get the flu did your chances of getting the flu because you live in the same house rise yes and so it is a generational sin you grew up in a household where father was abusive and cruel and hurtful maybe even outwardly religious went to Church every Sunday but by no means resembles Christ and he Christian sense and you can grow up in that household.
See cruelty vileness hate does that mean automatically that the moment you turn 18 when you bounce out of the house that you're gonna up and leave the Church and never come back no that's not how that works is it more likely possibly could be and you play this out for any type of sin pattern but if you are rounded enough inherit some of it the mystery of this is hard for us to wrap our minds around but you can pick up this generational sin and that that literally plays its way out and this story.
Because they're going to wander in the wilderness and they're going to settle into the promised land right now as a Church where a bunch of us are going through a reading plan a two-year Bible reading plan and when the Book of Judges which is a pretty painful book to be in because when you're reading the Book of Judges you just see over and over again this playing out they reject God they worship idols instead and they their kids worship idols.
Then their grandkids worship idols and it's just painful and by the way if you want to opt into that reading plan email me come talk to me after this I add you to it you'll be a little bit behind us but you can join with us it's just to help us continually read the Bible together as Church but you see it all over the Book of Judges you see it all over the people of God they they reject God they worship idols and they pass that on down to the Next Generation the Next Generation and we just.
For honest we don't like this how's that good how does that display the goodness of God how how is that I think the reason that we have that heart posture as westerners is because we are largely insulated from absolute Injustice and I'm not saying that Injustice doesn't have in America I'm not making that argument it does but it ain't like it is in the global South main like it is in other parts of the of the world ain't like it is in other parts of History it's just not and the way brothers and sisters in in Nigeria we're brothers and sisters in the Church in Nigeria who in the middle of the night extremists islamist.
Groups come in Murder Men kidnap they're 13 and 14 year old girls do horrible things them and force them into marriage and then forcibly convert them into Islam that ain't happening in America it's just not you think our Nigerian brothers and sisters aren't looking at this passage and saying praise God that he doesn't he by no means clears the guilty they long for the justice of God people experience Injustice long for his Justice to roll down like a raging River they want Justice flow and I think that's a weakness.
For us as westerners a weakness in our assessment of the character of the goodness of God we need both we need both a fierce love of God and as Fierce Justice we need both of us one commentator puts it on this passage he says this makes good sense in light of what would just happen which was then rejecting God for the golden calf and It prepares the way for the renewal renewing of the Covenant furthermore it indicates that Divine love and punishment must be held in balance it is wrong to give priority to one over the other.
So you read that and you are left thinking okay but still like how how can both of those things be held together how can God have this steadfast love and mercy and Grace and all of that while also not clearing the guilty like how do those meld together if you read the Old Testament you're like I don't know how that works I want to have faith and trust to you but how does that work and then you flip and you flip and you flip and you flip.
And then you get to the Gospels and wear that overlaps perfectly and wonderfully is the cross that's where the love and the mercy and the grace and it's Rich forgiveness and his Justice flow together flows of the blood of Christ on the crossed that's it because God steps into the timeline and says I'll be the one that accomplishes what I am about I will be the one that comes and absorbs the Wrath that they deserve for being Rebels against me I will be the one that absorbs their sin on the cross and I will give to them is love forgiveness grace mercy and the righteous of his kindness the cross is where all of this.
Makes sense that's where the balance comes together Colossians 2 13-14 and you who were dead and your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh that's the sinful nature of your flesh God Made Alive together with him Heaven forgiveness all our trespasses that through the cross that's what's offered but it only happens verse 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demand it's legal demand is death for the wages of sin is death Romans 6. by canceling the record of death that stood against us with its legal to man this he set aside nailing it to the cross that is where Fierce love and the fierce justice of.
God come together beautifully what God is announcing about himself the Lord the Lord who he is is most beautifully displayed at the Cross of Christ and when you realize them pull up a seat at the table taste and see that he is good take refuge in him so we open this website sorry that's our memory verse for the month the more that you experience Christ like Moses he's got a taste of God he's got to experience him and say I want more of Me Show Me Your Glory and we get to.
See the glory of God at the cross and when we pull up a seat at the table to worship Him and behold him we respond like Moses Moses hears this and it says Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth end worshiped and so do wait brothers and sisters the more you experience the Wonder and the glory of Christ the more it should lead to worship you should Show Me Your Glory show me your goodness show me your character experience him in his word and in prayer gotta want a seat at that table I want you I want you.
God you should worship and Delight in who our God is now there's some of you that have never had a seat at that table some of you have never experienced the goodness of our God you've never experienced his Fierce love and his unbelievable Justice and it's offered at the cross through faith you can lay down your life at the cross and say I want you Christ I want to experience your goodness I want you I want everything you have to offer and the moment I pray that you would do just that.
Let me pray Heavenly Father we thank you for the good news of the Gospel we're thankful that thousands of years ago when you declared your character and your goodness that we get that see that so beautifully displayed at the cross God I pray that if there's anyone here that has not tasted and seen that you were good that has not trusted in you as their only hope God I pray that you would absolutely melt their heart right now they would surrender their life to you.
For those of us that love you better struggle with our sin and struggle with understanding your Rich love and your mercy and your forgiveness got to pray that we'd be able to just respond like Moses bowerheads and worship in Jesus name amen Matt's going to come up we're going to take the Lord's Supper if you're a Christian we invite you to come to the table when you are ready Jesus Took on the night that he was betrayed he took bread and broke it he said this is my body that was broken.
For you he says take and eat took the cup of the New Covenant and he said this is my blood that was shed for you that as often as you eat and drink this you Proclaim my death until I return so as Christians we come to the meal of remembrance remembering what Jesus did at the cross remembering his goodness displayed at the cross so when you've considered your sin when you've considered our need for God come joyfully to the table knowing that our.
God is steadfast in love and rich in Mercy and Grace come and worship and then stand and sing there's gluten-free in that back corner of there if you have a gluten intolerance if you are not a Christian please don't come to this table if you had a Christian come to Christ pray and receive the good news of the Savior who came to rescue you.
Where Good Comes From
Transcript
All right, we're in Matthew chapter 7 today. It's on page 474. If you have one of these white Bibles, my name's Chet. If this is your first time hanging out with us, I want to tell you a little bit about what we do, what we believe, who we are. We believe that the Bible is trustworthy, that it is true. We believe that the God that we meet in that Bible is loving and good.
And so we get together, we open the Bible, and we study it. We spend a good bit of time every Sunday. We just take the time to read what it says, to study it. We believe that it's true, so we then try to seek to apply it to our lives. And so that's what we're about to do now. We've been walking verse by verse through the Sermon on the Mount, which is probably the most famous sermon in the world.
Jesus preaches for three chapters, chapters 5, 6, and 7 in Matthew. And so we've just been going through chapters 5, 6, and 7, verse by verse, trying to understand what he's saying, what his point is, and how that looks for us to actually try to apply that in life. So we're going to be in Matthew chapter 7 today. We're going to pick up where we left off last week in verse 7. And I think we're in a bit of a danger today, just in our time this morning. And so we're going to read.
I think it will be most helpful for us to read the whole passage that we're going to look at this morning. And then I want to tell you what I think is a danger to us, what we actually need to be aware of as we study this this morning. So let's read it together. Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives. And the one who seeks, finds. And to the one who knocks, it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?
So, whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them. For this is the law and the prophets. That passage is so nice. It's so nice. It's like a warm blanket out of the dryer. Like, by the time we get here in the Sermon on the Mount, like, this is just, it feels like your soul just got home from a hard day of work, opened the door, and your house smells like fresh-baked cookies.
Like, that's how nice that passage is. That, oh, you ask and you'll be answered. Seek and you'll find. Knock and the door will be opened. God is like a good Father who gives good gifts to his children. So, treat others the way you want to be treated.
Like, if you have, like, the old school flowy Jesus voice in your head, this is where he gets most Jesus-y sounding. Like, you can almost see him penning a lamb where he's just, everything is said. So soft. And so smooth. Like, but the problem, the danger that I think we're in today, is that we've all heard this 1,000 times. We know this.
Like, even if you're not a part of a church, even if you've never studied the Bible, maybe when we just read, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, or treat people the way you want to be treated, you were surprised that that was in the Bible. You've heard that your whole life. You know that's the golden rule. You just didn't know Jesus said it. Or, you've heard even people who don't believe in anything, or just believe that there's a God, will tell you that he's a father, and that he's good. Like, that's mainline stuff.
So here's the deal. We'll read this. We're in danger of reading this section, that God's a good father, that he answers prayer, that he loves you, that he gives good gifts, and that you should treat others the way you want to be treated. And we'll all go, mmm, yes. When's lunch? And we'll move right on.
And here's the truth. As I've studied this this week, and I've thought about my life, and I know y'all, I've thought about y'all, I don't think we believe this, and I don't think we do it. This is such a beautiful passage, that it gets cross-stitched on little lacy pillows, and I actually don't think we believe it, and I don't think we do it, so let's cross-stitch that on a lacy pillow. Just put nuh-uh under it, I guess. Psych. Thanks, but no thanks.
That'll be on the backside of the pillow. So, here's what I want to do. I want us to see what he's saying, then I want to show you why I believe we don't believe it, and then, after we've done that, I want to show us how I think we can believe it, and how it can actually help us. Is that fair? Can we do that? Doesn't matter.
I'm going to. Let's pray, and then we'll start studying. God, we ask for your help this morning. As we approach some of the most, I think, warming, helpful, beautiful teaching that you give us in the Sermon on the Mount, I pray that we would not shoot past it, or convince ourselves that we believe it, because we know it, because we could repeat it, because we've heard it a thousand times. I pray that you'd help us to see with new eyes today, and evaluate ourselves well. We ask this in your son's name.
Amen. Okay, so, there is a difference between knowing something and believing it. There's a difference between having information in your head, and actually having it, it seep into your heart, and so that's what I, I think we all have this information in our heads, and I think it hasn't necessarily seeped into our hearts. So let's start looking at what he says. I just want to spend some time saying, this is what he says, and what it means, and then I want to say, here's why I don't think we believe it, and then we'll talk about how we actually can. So let's look at the first section first, verses 7 through 11.
Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives, and the one who seeks, finds. And to the one who knocks, it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? So Jesus sets this up as ask, seek, and knock towards God. So you want to ask God, you want to seek God, you want to knock on God's door. That's what he's saying. That's why he ends and says, how much more will your Father in heaven?
So he's calling us, commanding us, he gives three commands here, towards prayer, towards pursuit of God, knowledge of God. So this would include reading your Bible, this would include serving, giving, this would include any pursuit that helps you believe in, trust, and know God, that you would ask him, that you would seek him, that you would knock on his door, and that he would respond. So he gives three commands and six promises. Ask, and it will be given. Anyone who asks, receives. Seek, it's a command, and you will find.
Anyone who seeks, finds. Knock, and the door will be opened. To the one who knocks, it is opened. So he tells us to do something three times, and then he gives six promises that pair with those. And it's actually really encouraging. If you're praying, if you're seeking, if you're the type of person that you're here today because you're just checking this thing out, you don't know how you feel about Jesus, maybe you think he was an okay guy, maybe you think he was a prophet, maybe you kind of grew up around people who you believe, genuinely believe this stuff, but you don't know where you stand, this is an encouragement to you.
Start asking your questions. Start seeking the truth. Start knocking on Jesus' door. Start trying to talk to him. Start trying to understand what's going on, and he promises he'll respond. And then I love the illustration he gives.
He says, which one of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? It's a rhetorical question. People are like, no, I wouldn't do that. Like, I said to my kid the other day, he's two. He wanted some fish for dinner, so I stuck a snake on his plate and gave it to him.
It was hilarious. Nobody would do that. Like, y'all should call the cops. That is terrible. That's the point. He's like, this sounds ridiculous because no one would do this.
And then he says, you who are evil know how to give good gifts. He looks at them, looks at us, and says, y'all know you're messed up, right? Yes. You know you do pretty terrible stuff. Yes. Right.
But you wouldn't do this to a kid, would you? No. That's the point. That your God, your Father in Heaven, loves you so much more. How much more is he going to give good things to those who ask him? He's saying, nobody comes back empty handed.
You get to go to God and make your request. You get to go to God seeking and searching and he responds. But he actually tells us something that I think makes this so much better. He says, verse 11, if you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in Heaven give good things to those who ask him? You know why that makes that so much nicer? He doesn't give you the thing you ask for.
He gives you good things. Sometimes what you ask for is a good thing. Sometimes it wasn't. He's not a genie. And I think a lot of us think it would be really nice if he was. But let's think about that for just a second.
If God just answered all of our prayers. First of all, that would mean all of our prayers, not just yours. So you may think my prayers are great. It's like, right. But if he's just going to answer everybody's prayers, your neighbor's an idiot.
No? Y'all's neighbors are great. The guy lives two doors down. Like, if he answers everybody's prayers. And you know how afraid you'd have to be about asking for the exact right thing? All right.
Let me give you an example of God not being a genie. When I was in middle school, I think in sixth grade, I was reading my Bible. That may be weird. I used to read my Bible. I'd read two chapters a day starting when I was about 12. I was reading my Bible and I would come across stuff where it said, if you have faith, anything would happen.
Like, God can answer prayers. If you have faith, you have faith. So I started trying to test this out. And what I would pray for before I would go to sleep, and I must have done this for a couple of months, was that I would wake up with a full beard. This is a legit, real prayer I had when I was in sixth grade. And I would wake up and think, I must not have enough faith.
I'd keep reading my Bible. I'd try it again the next night. And I kept thinking, maybe one day it's just going to happen. Here's the thing. You know how terrible that would have been if I'd have woken up in sixth grade with a full beard? My parents would have had to have taken me to the doctor because that would have been like a really scary thing to have happened.
I would have been like, no, I prayed for it. And they'd be like, no kid, like we got to go get you tested. Something wrong here. Also, like I'm really glad I didn't have to shave constantly through middle school. Some of you did. I'm sorry.
God didn't answer your prayer, I guess. I don't know. I didn't have to shave all the way through middle school. But eventually, and I don't think, I don't know if this has anything to do with that consistent amount of prayer in seventh grade, but I am the only one of my two brothers, there's three of us, who can actually grow a full beard. So they should have started praying in middle school.
They might have worked out. One of them can grow an amazing mustache and he cannot ever not grow that because when he shaves it it immediately pops back out, but that's about it. And the other one can grow a really awesome, like Fu Manchu, but that's it. That's why he rocks a Fu Manchu. He's one of our group leaders and you don't ever see him do anything else. They can, though, to make it fair, God evened it out, they can get a tan.
My skin just turns red and then falls off. So maybe he gave me a beard to protect my face. Here's the thing. God's not a genie. He gives good gifts. I have a two-year-old son.
He, when he turned two, was like, I'm going to start talking now. So that's been pretty cool. When he wakes up in the morning, he and I get to eat breakfast together a couple days a week because we both get up early and we'll eat breakfast before I go to work and I'll fix him breakfast. And on a very consistent basis, at least a couple times a week, he will say no to all the breakfast options. No eggs, no cereal, no Pop-It, which is how he says Pop-Tart, which is basically candy. But his mom is still asleep so I can feed him what I want.
But then he will, he'll go, because he's thinking about the options of things and he'll go, candy, chocolate, Pep-It, which means peppermints, which would be a terrible thing to eat for breakfast. He just likes them. And I will say, no, you're not eating candy for breakfast. Like, that's just not going to be good for him. If he ate it that morning, he would think it was delicious. He would think this was the best thing that ever happened.
But, it actually, he wouldn't understand the consequences later in the day when he didn't have any energy and he was frustrated. He wouldn't understand if we did this over time, like if I always let him eat candy every time he wanted to or if I always let him stay awake at night when I tell him it's bedtime and he says no sleep, I was just like, well, you know your body, bud. If you don't want to go to sleep, I'm cool with it. Like, that would be terrible for him. If he just ate candy and slept on his schedule, it wouldn't be good. So, I'm a father.
I care about him. So, I'd say no. Like, I'm slowly teaching him that bacon is better. That's what I'm doing. And here's the promise that Jesus makes here is that you get to go to God and ask. You get to walk to him every day and say, God, candy, chocolate, and peppermints.
And he, because he's a good father, gets to go, no, but I am slowly going to show you that bacon is better. Like, that's the promise here. That he's good. That he gives good gifts so that we get to ask him, but then we get to trust him. We get to ask. We get to seek.
We get to knock. But then we get to trust that he's going to take care of us, provide for us, and give us actual good gifts. I think that's the first thing Jesus is teaching here. Now, I want to show us, if I can, quickly, why I actually don't think we believe this. I'll start by kind of giving us an illustration, help us picture this. When I was growing up, my dad, I mention him periodically because he's a big figure in my life, and I'm really blessed to have the dad that I have, but he is a very intense man, and I slept so soundly in my house when I was growing up.
Because if you broke in my house when I was growing up, good luck. My dad is the equivalent of an angry bear in some ways. And so I just, I'd hear a noise and I'd be like, if that's a bad guy, good luck, buddy. I'd just go back to sleep. I didn't care. I wasn't afraid.
I wasn't scared. My dad would walk around the house at night. He would check things out. Like, I was never worried about this. I've had him before tell me that if, like, I was in a situation when I was in T-ball, and a coach was yelling at me, and I told my dad, like, I was kind of worried because there's a grown man yelling at me, and he was like, look, as long as he yells, it's okay, but if he touches you, you let me know, and I'll break every bone in his body. And my dad was serious.
Like, he'll go to the penitentiary for me. I didn't even bat an eye at that. I was like, all right, sounds good. So, a coach would yell at me, and I just wouldn't even flinch. Like, I, and that was how I slept. Like, my whole life, I just, I just knew that was the person who lived in my house, and I was going to be okay, and I could just rest because I knew if something went down, he would handle it.
He had our back. He was going to protect us. He would take care of us. I knew that. Like, I, there was never even a question in my mind. Fast forward to the time that I get married.
I get married, and my ability to sleep soundly disappeared. Every little noise. Like, there was something in my house, it would be like, like, it was like a cricket sneezed, and I'd be like, because suddenly, my dad wasn't there anymore. I had to do this. And my wife, who weighs about 100 pounds, it's never her turn. Like, we don't have a schedule of like, if someone breaks in on Tuesday, that's your turn, or I got the last one.
It's never like, hey, babe, you're up. Like, that's always my job. And so she would say, that's nothing, go to sleep. And I'd be like, yeah, you can say that, because if they come in the door, it's suddenly my problem, not yours. I'm going to go walk around and check. And so on a consistent basis, a couple of times a month, ever since I've gotten married, maybe a couple of times a week, just depending, sometimes a couple of times a night, I'm walking around my house looking for stuff because I heard some sort of phantom noise, and I won't be able to go to sleep until I find the person and attack them.
I also have it mapped out in my house which rooms I'm checking first and how I'm doing it, because, you know, I've got to pay attention to people getting behind me and stuff. I know what's up. Here's the thing. Here's why I think we don't believe this. Much of our lives, much of my life, is spent not in the peaceful, restful sleep of someone who knows their father is good and there and can handle it, but is in the restless, wakeful, tense, worry of is this going to work out is in the state of I have to make this work. I'm the one responsible.
So when it comes to work, when it comes to family, when it comes to children, when it comes to relationships, we're not living our lives as people who are at rest because their father is good and there. We're living our lives as people who have to be in control and make everything work out. You see, he says your father's good and good things come from him and you can trust him and you can ask of him and you can seek him and you can knock at his door and you can know that he'll give good gifts, but I think we spend so much time worrying about our ability to make this work that I just don't think we truly believe that. And I think it's not just our worries, our fears, our anxieties, our nightmares that betray us.
I also think it's our hopes, our dreams, our ambitions, and the thing that we'll get on our grind for because what he says here is that good things come from God and I think for many of us, if you were going to say good things come from, you wouldn't end the sentence with God. You wouldn't end the sentence with Jesus. You wouldn't end the sentence with a heavenly father. You'd end the sentence with something like good things come from popularity, good things come from having a lot of friends. Good things come from being able to rest and vacation. Good things come from money and we know this when we're looking at our bank accounts that we've tied our hearts to it.
We know this when we're paying attention to our children. All the things that we put so much weight and pressure on, I just believe that we don't spend our life in the restful peace that this offers and so I think we don't actually believe it. We could say it. You could quote it to somebody. You would tell somebody in your community group that. God's a good father.
He's got you. I just want you to know they're sitting on the other side going it doesn't feel like that and I can't trust that right now. I really need my finances to work out. And you're going no, he's a good father. He's got you. But five months later when you're looking like you might lose your job and they're saying God's a good father.
He's got you. You're going it doesn't feel like that and I don't see that and I really need my job to work out. And I just think we don't truly believe this. It hasn't really sunk into our heart yet. Let's look at verse 12.
We're going to do the same thing. We're going to see what it says. I'm going to try to show you why I think we don't really believe this. We don't really practice this. So whatever you wish that others would do to you do also to them for this is the law and the prophets.
So he's kind of coming to a conclusion here in the Sermon on the Mount the next couple of weeks as we go into Easter and the week after we're going to be finishing up and Jesus is going to kind of he's going to basically have said everything he's going to say and then he's going to kind of conclude it with let me be really clear about a few things. So this is kind of the end. He's actually tagging back to verse 5 chapter 5 verse 17 where he talks about the law and the prophets and he says so it's kind of in conclusion treat others the way you want to be treated. Do also whatever you wish that others would do to you do also to them.
Where he talks about the law and the prophets and he says so it's kind of in conclusion treat others the way you want to be treated. Do also whatever you wish that others would do to you do also to them. This is the law and the prophets. There's a book I heard about recently by a guy named Robert Fulham it says all I really need to know I learned in kindergarten I want to read y'all a little bit from the first chapter of that book
He says all I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten these are the things I learned share everything play fair don't hit people put things back where you found them clean up your own mess don't take things that aren't yours say you're sorry when you hurt somebody wash your hands before you eat flush warm cookies and cold milk are good for you
Take a nap every day when you go out into the world watch out for traffic hold hands and stick together he says everything you need to know is in there somewhere the golden rule that's this that's Matthew 7 verse 12 to do unto others as you have them do unto you or treat people the way you want to be treated he says it's in there the golden rule and love and basic sanitation ecology politics
Equality and sane living what he says is if you took any of those concepts and extrapolate them out into adult terms we'd be great things would work out fine if countries would put things back where they found them and clean up their own messes if everybody just followed the rules that you learned in kindergarten we'd be fine and here's the thing I don't think there's anything on that list we would disagree with some of you might disagree with naps and we'll begin the church discipline process soon
I don't think there's anything on there that we would disagree with but we also don't do that in life we just don't like treat others the way you want to be treated if we were in high school and you forgot you had a presentation today but it was on that you could show up to class be reminded you had the presentation walk up and wing it and you'd do fine because you can make arguments for that everybody can make an argument for why treating others the way you want to be treated makes life better we just could
But we don't do it we don't actually practice that that just means that in life you would think in every situation how do I wish they would act towards me and then you would use that as your framework for everything he says this is the law and the prophets this is what all the Old Testament was getting at in so many ways was just trying to get you to treat people the way you want to be treated but let's look at this if you're buying a house how honest should the seller be about the house's
Issues quality things that have happened things they've just fixed how honest okay thank you if you're selling a house 65% honest is okay mostly honest like I was pretty honest plus I kind of fixed that thing and you can't really see it unless you knew that it happened and looked in that corner with this type of lighting alright you hear a really good secret really good piece of information about someone it's like crazy interesting
And you know that other people want to hear it someone hears something like that about you how do you want them to respond I think I'd like for them to say something like that doesn't really sound all that true plus if we told people about it I don't think it would be that helpful maybe we should go talk to him and sort it out now that's how I'd like for them to respond but I can tell that I don't do that by how annoyed I would be
If a person said that to me after I told them something really interesting I don't think that's actually very helpful to spread around I think we should go talk to them and maybe you should apologize for telling people their information about their personal lives I would be like I hate you right now you just made that secret not fun at all and I would be actively fighting against people doing unto others like I'm glad I would love for people to do that towards me but I don't want to do it
Towards other people like that's a very difficult thing to do when the trash can's full or the sink is full how do you want people to treat you how about your neighbors or your waiter if you were a waiter or a waitress and you are just really having a rough day life's been going really poorly you have more people in your set you got scheduled because people had called out and so you were the one person who showed up because a couple people were sick and so you're handling
More tables than you can handle right now and you're not doing a great job because you had some stuff going on in life and you're a little bit frustrated that you're there and so you actually aren't the best waiter or waitress that day how do you want the people eating meals to treat you I want them to be pretty forgiving and gracious and to just assume I'm having a bad day and to tip me better because of it but if I'm sitting at the table
You've been sitting at a table and you're like frustrated about the service and you say something and a person at your table says they may just be having a really bad day how annoyed are you with them it's like maybe they're a terrible waiter it's possible he's having a bad day because he's a moron no just me come on this is what I'm saying like we know how honest do we want people to be how forgiving
How gracious how generous we can answer that question easily I can answer how I'd like to be treated so easily and then if you walk through my life and say let me show you how you treated this person let me show you how you spoke to them let me show you how you responded let me show you how you responded to their anger like for the most part I think my rubric is treat people how they're treating me if you're really nice there's a good chance
I'll be nice if you're rude I'll be rude if you've already done something to me if you've been spreading rumors about me and I suddenly get the chance to do that like there's a there's a chance I'm gonna go let's do this and that's the opposite every single one of us could stand up here and tell how beautiful the world would be if we just did this but we don't do it see I don't think
We truly believe that God's good and that he's our father and I don't think we actually practice this even though we would argue for it even though it would not automatically pop out of our mouths if we were dealing with a child where somebody would do something we go hey is that how you'd want to be treated I just don't think we believe it I don't think we do it here's why well let's look at this here
I think Jesus gives us a clue in the text as to how we can actually treat others how we can actually live out the golden rule I think he gives us a clue in the text I want to show it to you it's at the very beginning of verse 12 so I'll read that again in case I lost you so it's a two letter word it begins the sentence here's what it means in light of what I've already said that's what it means so like
You've been using the word so since first grade you use it all the time in normal language it's a concluding word you say stuff like I'm really hungry so I could eat anywhere somebody's like where should we go to lunch you say something like I don't have any money so I'll go with you wherever because I'm not going to be eating I'm going to be watching you like you take a bit of information you say so and now you have a conclusion and so it's weird to me because
Jesus says so whatever you wish that others would do to you do also to them for this is the law and the prophets he says it as a concluding statement to some stuff that doesn't seem real connected to me he just got done saying that God's a good father who give you good gifts and then he says so treat others the way you want to be treated and it feels a little bit like he went A B green and thought we were supposed to catch that like it's just it feels a little weird
I don't know why he jumped to this but actually as I got to thinking about it it seems to make a lot of sense I think the primary reason that we don't treat others the way we want to be treated is that we don't want to lose if you treat others the way you want to be treated if you actually sit and spend any time thinking about this you're suddenly going to go wait I'm the only one who ever cleans up every time I see the sink is full I fill it up when a co-worker has been spreading rumors about me and then the boss comes and asks me
How I feel about them I'm suddenly supposed to think how do I wish they would treat me and even though I don't really like them try to find something gracious to say and maybe highlight some of their good qualities rather than just dogging them as best I can here's the problem with that I won't get a promotion how honest would I like someone to be if I was interviewing them real honest but I don't think I'd get a job if I just sat down and was completely honest with every question they asked
If I didn't put a little bit of spin on it some of you just thought yeah no you can't be honest in an interview that's my point like we don't believe the reason we don't do this is we don't want to lose we don't want to come in last we feel like there's so much pressure for us to make it work out for us to get it for us to accomplish it for us to make this work so that when Jesus says your God's a good father and good things come from him so treat others the way you want to be treated what he's saying is
You'll quit looking to others and to the world for all your good things so you'll actually be free to just treat them well you see when we spend all of our time looking at everybody else and needing them to fill us up and to make us okay that we believe that our good things are out there at our jobs and in our relationships and in our friendships and in our money when we believe all the good exists out there we can't treat people the way we want to be treated but once we believe
And fully know that God is good and our good comes from him then we're free then you're free to actually love people the way you want to be loved you're free to treat people the way you want to be treated see the reason I'm anxious and the reason I'm worried is because I feel like I'm going to lose I feel like I'm going to I'm going to mess this up I'm going to come and last other people are going to get ahead of me I'm going to fall behind so I can't treat people the way I want to be treated because I've got to get an edge I can't always just be serving and showing up early
And leaving late and filling in everybody's schedule every time they don't show up for work I can't be the only person who fills in slots for people who are sick that can't be just me but that's because we're not fully believing that our good comes from him we believe our good comes somewhere else we're actually asking and seeking and knocking in so many other places trying to find the good in life and we've forgotten that he's a good father who gives us our good things let's think about it this way if we're in a river and we're drowning
Just a couple of us if you're being washed down a river and you're drowning you're trying to keep yourself up the only way to keep yourself up if you've got other people around you is to grab them and pull them down it's the best way to get your head out of water is to grab somebody and pull them down if that's all you have around you is to grab something and pull them down but if it's just people if it's just the people around you all you can do is drown them a little bit so you can get some air but if as we're floating along someone's able to grab a hold
Of a root or a big tree limb or even the trunk of a very small tree suddenly they can pull themselves out and then they can help everybody else out in the river not because they're strong or amazing but because the tree is I think that's what Jesus is saying that as long as we believe that good is out there at work and in relationships and friendships as long as I believe that the good of my life will come from my wife do you know what will happen? at best I'll drown her I'll spend my life trying to get all the good
Out of her I can get and she won't be able to handle it she'll be the reason I'm happy and I'm okay and fulfilled and satisfied and I'll drown her or I'll drown if you're looking to your job and that's where good comes from if you're looking to your finances and that's where good comes from if you're looking to relationships or marriage or future marriage and that's where good comes from the best thing that can happen is you can either drown somebody else or you can drown see we're running around asking seeking and knocking so many other doors
And so many other places we're searching in so many places and asking so many people and so many entities and jobs and everything trying to get it to find our good and what he says is once you realize he's a good father and good things come from him then you're anchored then you get to be like the person standing on the riverbed holding on to a tree who can just give and it's not a problem to give because you know where all the good stuff comes from where all the strength comes from you've got a firm grip on him and his roots are dug deep and you are anchored
That's why he says you have a good father who'll give you good gifts so treat others the way you want to be treated but until we know that he's a good father and until we know that he gives good gifts we won't actually ever be able to do that now for some people in the room you're saying okay I've asked I've sought I've knocked that's a lie I begged I pleaded I searched I dug I read I prayed I wept I was banging on his door and cancer won
They still left it was a train wreck and that's a lie if you're going to stand up there and tell me that that was a good gift from a good God I'm out I don't want to tell you that if Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 7 is all Jesus did this was all he did was walk around and teach things like this I'd be with you if all he did was maybe teach stuff like this and then heal some people if all he did was teach stuff like this and then maybe he fed 5,000 people and maybe he walked on water if that was all he did I'm with you I think that's a lie because I've stood next to people
In our church family and people I loved and I've watched things that I could not in any way say that's a good gift that I could only sit with them and cry and say I have no clue how a good God is even going to make anything of this this looks terrible and evil and broken and I am so sorry and if this was all we could hang it up we could walk away and I'd go with you but today is Palm Sunday Palm Sunday is in the Christian calendar it's the celebration that Jesus rode into Jerusalem
And he had people yelling Hosanna in the highest they were proclaiming his name they were worshipping him they were waving palm branches it was beautiful and they were celebrating that he was a good teacher and a good prophet who could feed 5,000 people and who could heal the sick and make the blind see they were celebrating all of that about Jesus and if it was just Palm Sunday I'd leave if it was just he said stuff like this that God's good and he's a good father and he's going to take care of you some of you are saying I was asking for bread and he gave me a stone
But you see Palm Sunday is a week out from Easter you see this Thursday we get a picture of Jesus Matthew's story isn't done here we get a picture of Jesus in a garden sweating drops of blood dripping out of his head as he begs his father if this cup can pass from me let it he's asking his father if I cannot have to go to the cross if there's another way let that happen and then he ends his prayer with not my will but yours and his father said no there's not another way
But this is the only way I'm going to be able to give good gifts and this is the only way I'm going to be able to bring good about you see the primary thing that on Good Friday that happens is that Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross that he was massacred that God's greatest gift he ever gave was an execution that his wrath was poured out on Jesus in our place and that it was in the midst of that pain and fear and upheaval and chaos that he was turning the world on its head
So that we could actually have good gifts so that he could actually pursue us and redeem us and set us free from sin and give us himself and if it was just this if Jesus just taught and did some miracles I'd walk away with you but because he didn't we get to stand with each other and say I don't know how this is good I think it's a train wreck I know that sin's at work here but I trust that Jesus is good and I know that he's trustworthy because of the cross God definitively made this true when he when Jesus was nailed to a cross when he gave his son for us
He definitively guaranteed that he is good and he is for our good because he loves us enough to give his son for us Romans 8 verse 32 says he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all how will he not also with him graciously give all things give us up give all things give us all things see the promise we have in the cross is that God's not withholding from you he's not going to give you a stone he's not going to give you
A serpent he is good and he definitively proved it on the cross now your circumstances may not work out the way you want them to what you're praying for may not be what you get but you can trust definitively and forever that he is good and he is for your good because he gave us his son and how much more will he not give us all things how much more is he not using that to redeem us and to make us okay some people say I trusted God and he failed me
The truth was we trusted him to fulfill our plan and our wisdom and he didn't but because of the cross we can know that he's trustworthy so that we can continue to trust him when it doesn't work out the way we want to that's the promise we have in the cross and that's the king that we have and that we follow in a few minutes when we get done here there's going to be about 30 children running laps in this room it's going to be a lot
It's a lot to take in if you don't have kids I'm sorry I have to try to like I got one he's running around I have to pay attention because every once in a while he just scoots out the door and it's like I really don't want him running out in the parking lot but there's just a pile of kids running around here and one of the coolest thing to see about children is when something happens that scares them or if they just suddenly realize that they don't see their parents anymore have you ever seen a kid do this so they're running around playing
And it's like ah ah ah and all of a sudden they'll go ah like they just they lose it my son says mama are you mama are you that's what he does he runs around he'll like he'll freak out there's one little boy in our church his dad and I were talking the other day and his dad kept trying to put him down and his son was fine but as soon as he would do this he would go ah ah
And grab him he's like I'm not going anywhere you've lost your mind you think you're setting me down here with all these other kids running around it's something bad going to happen I ain't going to trust these people it's built into them that protection and safety and goodness comes from their parents and we as a church have to have it soul level bedrock deep built into us that all of our good
Comes from God or we'll never be free we have to be so fixated on the cross so changed by his love for us so overwhelmed by the grace that was given to us that we don't have to be good or moral or perfect or fix ourselves or clean ourselves up but that he died for us so that we could be clean that he loves us so much that he gave his own son for us that we can be welcomed into the family and it's got to be our natural reaction
That when things in life aren't going well that we're just grabbing onto our father and saying okay I'm alright if you're here I can trust because you're here you see so many times we get shipwrecked because the thing that we were holding on to to tell us we were okay was a relationship and it just can't keep you afloat the thing that we had grabbed onto to tell us we were going to be fine was money
And it just can't keep you afloat and we have to train ourselves that when anything happens our head snaps around we run to God and that we're already just nestled in the crook of his arm holding tightly to him and knowing that all my good comes from here so I'm actually now free to love people the way I'm supposed to I'm free to give free to care because I'm firmly fixed in Christ and what he's done for me and in the father
Who's good who gives good gifts I do want to say this he says ask seek knock those are action commands us being firmly rooted in this good God involves us pursuing him so that we actually know how good he is so this means praying this means reading our bibles this means taking time to really be
Devoted to our community group some of you are kind of in a group but it's optional for you because you have a lot of other things that you're asking seeking and knocking and wanting to have fill you up and fix you this takes actually saying no this is this matters because it's one of the ways that I tether myself to the cross tether myself
To God's people some of us this is money you'll make you'll set aside money for anything you care about so one of the bible tells us is what Jesus said earlier that our monies are our monies our money is tied to our hearts and some of us just need to start giving need to start setting aside money to just try to move your heart a little bit to begin
To trust and believe some of this is serving it's an action that needs to be taken so I just want you to think if you just need to say okay I can set aside time for my favorite tv show I actually work my whole schedule around it or it's not uncommon for me to binge on Netflix but it's hard for you to pray for more than
Three minutes maybe you're asking seeking and knocking is just saying I'm going to set aside time every day I'm going to pray for at least 15 minutes I'm at least going to stay in the chair even if my mind wanders one of the things I do if someone's like I have ADD I can't pray I set a phone alarm for three
Minutes I'll only be distracted for three minutes then it beeps and I restart it and remember I was supposed to be praying some of you it's bible reading you say well I don't really read you know all the stats for your favorite sports team maybe you watch that on ESPN but they're also bible apps that
Will read to you so I really have very little like we have way more opportunity to get to the bible than anybody else ever has in history but he says ask seek knock and then he promises you won't miss out it won't be a waste of time I will respond I'll open the door I'll answer you'll find it's worth it so I would just challenge us as we
Try to begin to fully not just know but believe that he is a good father so that we can actually be free to love people the way we want to the way we're supposed to that we would actually act on that not just not alone and go home and go right back to what we were doing and miss out on what was so beautifully promised to us by the by Jesus who
Loved us so much that he gave his life for us let's pray God we ask that you would give us the courage the determination and the discipline to ask seek and knock that you would help us to see all the places that we're running to right now believing that good things come from there all the doors we're knocking
On all the things we're seeking all the all the questions we're asking that ultimately just lead to our own destruction and our own failure Lord show us where we're drowning and drowning others so that we might begin to actually pursue you and to begin to realize where all the good things really come from
We love you we praise you in Jesus name amen